China’s shuttle launch an early success

China have been caught out publishing details of their successful shuttle launch days before lift-off.

China’s official news agency, Xinhua, posted an article with transcripts of dialogue between astronauts and descriptions of their successful moon launch – a day before the rocket was due to take off.

Associated Press reported the story after noticing the article appeared on Xinhua’s website yesterday and remained there for most of the day.

An employee from the Xinhuanet.com Web site said the posting of the article was a “technical error” by a technician.

AP managed to retain some excerpts from the article.

“After this order, signal lights all were switched on, various data show up on rows of screens, hundreds of technicians staring at the screens, without missing any slightest changes …

“Ten minutes later, the ship disappears below the horizon. Warm clapping and excited cheering breaks the night sky, echoing across the silent Pacific Ocean.”

Source: Associated Press

Additional Material: Yahoo! News