China has launched 17 of its " Long March" rocket carriers since 1997 with a hundred per cent success rate.

In an interview with Xinhua, Li Jianzhong, head of the China Rocket Carrier Technology Institute said China had two abortive launches of its Long March rocket carriers in 1996 which affected its reputation of successful launching of its rocket carriers.

Li said that the Institute later introduced a number of strict quality control measures in designing the rocket carriers. In November, China made a successful launch of its first unmanned spacecraft "Shenzhou".

The capsule of "Shenzhou" landed in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on November 21 at 3:41 a.m., after a space voyage of 21 full hours. The rocket carrier of the spacecraft was a Long March-2F designed by the Institute. Sophisticated systems, including failure prediction and failure-safe systems, on board of the rocket carries ensured successful launches. (Xinhua)