China launches manned space flight

China has launched its first manned space flight from a remote site in the Gobi Desert, but the government cancelled plans to broadcast the launch on live television.

The world's most populous nation became the third country to launch someone into orbit.

"The whole Chinese nation is anticipating this great success," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said earlier.

The Communist party's official newspaper reported the change in broadcast plans on Tuesday. No reason was given.

Three men were vying to become China's first astronaut. The official Xinhua news agency said the craft carried astronaut Yang Liwei, 38.

The Shenzhou V, or "Divine Ship V," was expected to orbit the Earth 14 times before returning after about 21 hours.

The launch comes 42 years after the Soviet Union put the first man into space.

Marc Garneau, the head of Canada's space agency, says putting someone in orbit puts China in the major league of space.

"It will be very interesting to see if that spurs the existing space powers to accelerate their programs," said Garneau. "My feeling is that China is taking space very seriously."

During years of training and experiments, China's government has said little about the cost of space exploration. Instead, they've focused on possible benefits.

Plants exposed to cosmic radiation, for example, produce new varieties of seeds. The Flying Eagle Green Food Company uses the seeds to grow bigger vegetables.

"We filter out the good plants from each generation of seeds to see if they are stable or have problems," said Tony Yi Chao of Flying Eagle.

China's space program is popular and few Chinese question whether the country can afford it. Many take great pride in the national projects like the space program.