China blasts off

Science World, Dec 8, 2003 by Craig Simons

Li Ruihua (Lee Ray-Hwa), 13, a student in Beijing, China, felt proud as a rocket carried China's first astronaut into space. "Our teacher stopped class so we could see the launch," she says. When the 19-story-tall rocket took off from China's remote northwest on October 15, the students cheered. The successful mission made China only the third nation to put a person in space.

More than 40 years ago, the former Soviet Union and the United States pioneered human space-flight. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth in 1961. The U.S. launched Alan B. Shepard into space less than a month later.

But China only began developing human space-flight 10 years ago. When Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei (Yong Lee-Way) stepped out of the Shenzhou 5 (Shenzhou means Divine Vessel) space capsule after returning to Earth, millions of Chinese were elated.

Before watching the launch, Li had wanted to become a translator when she grows up. Now she has another idea. "Maybe I'll be an astronaut," she says.