posted 03-09-2003 02:48 PM               

Here's the deal. In 1997, two Chinese instructors (not necessarily candidate taikonauts) completed training in Star City. They reportedly were named Li Qinglong and Wu Jie.

Last year, the Chinese gov't. reported that they had 14 test pilots in training for a manned Shenzhou flight.

In January 2003, the Chinese newspaper Sing Tao Daily, reported that one of these test pilots, a "Chen Long" and an unnamed back-up was named to the first flight.

In February, Space Daily reported that the Chinese gov't. responded to the news of "Chen Long" with a reply saying that no such individual existed and that the crew of Shenzhou five might not be picked until as late as a week prior to the flight.

Then, this past week, Astronautix.com and then the BBC reported this past week that Chen Long would be the first taikonaut.

So where did Chen Long come from?

Recently, members of the discussion list FPSPACE noticed that the name Chen Long was close to Li Qinglong when translated from Chinese to Russian to English. It is quite possible that Chen Long = Li Qinglong, the instructor's name.

So, in reality, this "news" of a first taikonaut may be very much a consequence of a poor transliteration.

Of possible interest, an "autographed" picture of the two instructors appeared in "Novosti kosmonavtiki" (Cosmonautcs News). vol.12, No. 8/235, p.27 (2002) as part of the article "Krasnyi flag s zolotymi zvezdami - ot okolozemnoi orbity do poverkhnosti Luny" (Red flag with golden stars - from LEO to the lunar surface) [citation courtesy Antonin Vitek].

The photograph was printed with the caption: "Astronauts-instructors Wujie and Liquinglong, whose absolved training in the Astronaut Training Centre named after Yu. A. Gagarin in 1996-97, presented their autographs to I. Marinin (Editor of NK journal, remark by A.V.). It is possible that one of them (or both) might be selected as member of the crew of Shen Zhou 5"