A group of Chinese doctors is to attend the Russian cosmonaut training centre in 1997 as part of a $1 million contract to take the first step towards a manned Chinese space flight.
The doctors will be trained as cosmonauts to study Russian methods of selecting and training space crews (Flight International, 14-20 August). They will be followed by Chinese astronauts being prepared for a possible national manned space flight in about 2000, in which, two manned vehicles will be docked in space to form a small space-station laboratory.
China plans to buy Russian docking units as used on the Soyuz and Progress vehicles. Russia is also to assist China in developing a new Proton-class launcher to put 20t into low-Earth orbit.
Source: Flight International
