At 9 a.m. on October 15, 2003, our country launched   its first manned   space-ship, Shenzhou V, into space at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu Province. It took Yang Liwei and his spaceship about 21 hours to circle the earth 14 times. Yang Liwei is China's first astronaut. He comes from Liaoning Province, and he has been an air force pilot  since 1983. He was chosen from 14 pilots after many difficult tests. The life of an astronaut is hard to imagine for many people. To put on a space suit takes 15 minutes with the help of others. Sleeping in space is not easy, either. He has to sleep in a special sleeping bag on the wall because there is no gravity. Yang can eat chicken and rice. It's especially made to eat in space but it doesn't taste nice. "I'm feeling very good in space, and it looks wonderful here," said Yang, "I have looked at our beautiful earth and I have recorded all that I have seen here." China has become the third country in the world to send a person into space after the former Soviet Union  and the United States. China is now planning its next launch. Shenzhou VI will be into space within(......) the next years, it may take three astronauts. We are all proud of our motherland. We can know there are   _   countries in the world which can send man into space.
five four three two