China bracing for First Manned Spaceflight

BEIJING - Preparations for China's first manned space flight — expected sometime later this year — are moving ahead "extremely smoothly," a top science official said Tuesday.

Science and Technology Minister Xu Guanhua didn't give a date for the launch of the manned spacecraft, called the Shenzhou V, and said additional details would be announced later by other government departments.

"According to my knowledge, all launch preparations for the Shenzhou V spacecraft have proceeded extremely smoothly," Xu said in comments to journalists reported by the government's China News Service.