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Josephine Ma

All eyes will be on the expected launch into orbit of the nation's first astronaut

With all eyes on the sky, Chinese citizens held their collective breath this morning as they waited for the country to join the exclusive club of space explorers.

Thirty-three years after China's first satellite, Mao 1, broadcast the communist anthem The East Is Red from orbit, the nation was last night on the brink of launching its first manned space flight - a feat only the United States and the former Soviet Union have achieved.

Late last night, state media reported the Long March CZ-2F rocket which will catapult the Shenzhou V module into space was fully fuelled and  ready for  liftoff  this morning.

Firing an astronaut into orbit would be a major boost to national pride, but a failure - 42 years after Moscow's first successful launch - would be a disaster  for the authorities.

The  Communist Party hopes for  a success that will not only promote national cohesion but also help  cement its  authority. For ordinary citizens, a successful mission would bolster the sense of optimism that is taking hold across the country as the economy surges and the nation plays an increasingly prominent role on the  diplomatic stage.

Following the end of the third plenum of the 16th Communist Party Congress last night, President Hu Jintao was expected to rush to the launch site  to witness the  liftoff.

He will be one of the few Chinese citizens permitted to watch   events unfold, given the launch will no longer be  broadcast live.   But if the mission succeeds, an avalanche of newsprint will celebrate the occasion. Newspapers are primed to publish  special supplements reporting on the space launch.

In the run-up to today's launch, few details   have been  made available to a public hungry for information about an event which has been called  a 'heroic voyage' in mainland internet chat rooms.

Among the few new details to emerge yesterday, the China News Service reported that a mock launch of the spacecraft was completed on Monday. The simulation,  which also involved tracking stations, started at 5am and ran for 3? hours.

The agency said the drill  went smoothly.

Other reports yesterday said that the astronaut - it is very likely only one of three shortlisted will be aboard the Shenzhou V - would not be conducting experiments during the 21-hour mission, but that  a range of seeds would be on board  so scientists could evaluate how their genes were  affected by a trip into orbit.

Making sure the nation's space hero is  well fed for the duration of his trip has been   high on the list of priorities, some media outlets reported.  He would have a wide selection of  food from which to choose.

The Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po said  the astronaut would set off for Beijing soon after the completion of the mission for a grand celebration.

But a city spokeswoman said  details of any celebratory activities had to be kept under wraps until the mission was over.



33-year wait to conquer space is nearly over