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American Morning

China Preparing to Enter Space Race

Aired October 14, 2003 - 06:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: China is preparing to enter the space race 42 years after Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the earth. we get more on the Chinese mission from Jaime Florcruz, live in Beijing this morning -- tell us about it, Jamie.
JAMIE FLORCRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Final preparations for China's first manned space flight is under way in China. The launch of the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft is expected to take place in a few hours or in a few days. Chinese media has reported that the flight of the Shenzhou capsule will take place depending on the weather and whether all the systems are go in the launch site in Gobi Desert.

If successful, China will be only the third country, after the former Soviet Union and the United States, to send man to space. This is very important for China because this will be hailed as China's technological and scientific breakthrough, but also it will be a source of national pride and international prestige for China.

This is Jaime Florcruz, CNN, Beijing.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Jamie.

So just what do you call a Chinese space traveler? Well, after some debate, the official designation is yuhangyuan -- and I hope I pronounced that right. It means space navigator. Though some use taikonaut, which combines the Chinese word for space and the Greek word for sailor, one of the names that did not make the cut, by the way, was China-naut.

As for the two countries that have already been to space, you know what the Americans are called, astronauts, which actually means star sailor; while Russians use cosmonaut, or sailor of the cosmos.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 14, 2003 - 06:55   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: China is preparing to enter the space race 42 years after Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the earth. we get more on the Chinese mission from Jaime Florcruz, live in Beijing this morning -- tell us about it, Jamie.
JAMIE FLORCRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Final preparations for China's first manned space flight is under way in China. The launch of the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft is expected to take place in a few hours or in a few days. Chinese media has reported that the flight of the Shenzhou capsule will take place depending on the weather and whether all the systems are go in the launch site in Gobi Desert.

If successful, China will be only the third country, after the former Soviet Union and the United States, to send man to space. This is very important for China because this will be hailed as China's technological and scientific breakthrough, but also it will be a source of national pride and international prestige for China.

This is Jaime Florcruz, CNN, Beijing.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Jamie.

So just what do you call a Chinese space traveler? Well, after some debate, the official designation is yuhangyuan -- and I hope I pronounced that right. It means space navigator. Though some use taikonaut, which combines the Chinese word for space and the Greek word for sailor, one of the names that did not make the cut, by the way, was China-naut.

As for the two countries that have already been to space, you know what the Americans are called, astronauts, which actually means star sailor; while Russians use cosmonaut, or sailor of the cosmos.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com