China Launches Its Second Manned Space Mission

China has launched today its second manned space mission, Junlong and Nie Haisheng, the two astronauts, piloting the spacecraft orbiting now the Earth.

China's space explorers left Earth behind at 9:00 p.m. EDT (0100 Oct. 12 GMT) as their 19-story Long March 2F rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

According to Space.com, Fei and Nie will orbit Earth for as long as five days during the Shenzhou 6 spaceflight, China's first two-person mission, and are expected to perform a series of experiments to advance the country's understanding of human spaceflight.

China's last space mission took place on October 15, 2003, when Shenzhou 5 took astronaut Yang Liwei into a 21 1/2 hour trip.

During this first multi-manned and multi-day spaceflight of Shenzhou-6, the astronauts' normal life and activities such as eating, drinking, sleeping and excreting, must be assured, Xinhua quoted Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut and now deputy commander-in-chief of the astronaut system of Shenzhou-6 Manned Space Program as saying.

Compared with Shenzhou-5, China's first manned spacecraft orbiting the Earth two years ago, more than 110 technical modifications have been made for the 9.2-meter-long Shenzhou-6.