The most dramatic news concerning launches from the Asian spacefaring nations in recent months came on 15 October 2003, with China's launch of astronaut Yang Liwei in the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. Highly significant in terms of space technology, this accomplishment made China only the third nation to place one of its citizens in orbit using its own technology, including of course the launch vehicle. The vehicle in question was the Long March 2F (LM-2F) booster, an upgraded version of the LM-2E, which is one of China's commercial satellite launchers. Meanwhile, China's sister spacefaring nation, Japan, was not so lucky "in the launch stakes, and suffered a devastating failure of its new H-IIA vehicle in December 2003. Despite more than six weeks of checks while the rocket sat on the launch pad, already delayed from a planned September launch, a strap-on solid rocket booster failed to separate from the core vehicle as planned. As a result, the H-IIA failed to reach the required height and trajectory and it was necessary to destroy the rocket and its payload of two imaging satellites. While less newsworthy, the deliberations of Asia's third space-launch nation, India, were no less important for the region. The Indian Space Research Organisation made four successful launches in 2003, including a second success for its Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) on 8 May. It placed the GSAT-2 spacecraft - at 1800kg, the heaviest launched from India's domestic launch site at Sriharikota - in Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).
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