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China launches satellite
26/04/2008 22:22 - (SA)
Beijing - China has launched its first data relay satellite in preparation for the inaugural spacewalk by a Chinese astronaut scheduled for later this year, a state news agency said on Saturday.
The Tianlian I satellite was launched on a Long March-3C carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province late on Friday night, Xinhua News Agency said.
It said the satellite would not begin functioning until the Shenzhou 7 mission - scheduled for the second half of 2008 - when Chinese astronauts were to leave their spacecraft for the first time.
Xinhua reported earlier this year that China's space program was considering a live broadcast of the spacewalk.
China's space programme is the focus of immense national pride, and officials announced even more ambitious plans to explore the moon and build a space station after the program first put a man into orbit in 2003.
China sent an unmanned space ship to orbit the moon last year, the first step in a three-stage lunar exploration project. A manned lunar voyage is planned for some time after 2017.
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