LOOK OUT! Here comes CHINA...they’ve set the launch date of Shenzhou V sometime between October 15 and 17, and the mission would complete 14 orbits of the Earth.
Never mind that Bill Clinton handed the Chinese a good deal of the technology necessary to make their launch vehicles reliable enough to let them do this.
Actually, I hope China pulls this off and joins the list of true spacefaring nations (those who have launched men and women into space on their own without hitching a ride). NASA and the United States needs a kick in the ass. We’ve become way too complacent in the space arena and if China, ESA and the Russians keep going, we’ll be left in the (moon) dust before too long.