China's Space Program News Thread

[sandyj]

Re: china manned space - news and views

China manned space flight set for October: state media

BEIJING, June 12 (AFP) Jun 12, 2008

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The launch of China's third manned space flight, the Shenzhou VII, with a crew of three "taikonauts" has been set for October, state media reported Thursday.

A short-list of six "taikonauts" or astronauts had already been selected for the flight and would be whittled down to a crew of three before the October launch, Xinhua news agency said, citing a spokesman for the mission.

"One member of the flight crew will undergo a space walk and undertake relevant scientific experiments," the spokesman said.

The names of the taikonauts were not given, but Yang Liwei, China's first man in space, had previously been reported to be a candidate for the flight.

No precise dates of the launch were given, but officials earlier had said it would take place in September or early October, following the August Beijing Olympic Games.

China successfully launched Yang into orbit in 2003, making it the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to put a man in space.

It sent two more astronauts into orbit in 2005 on a five-day mission.

It was not immediately clear how long the Shenzhou VII mission would last.

China's manned space programme operates on a shoestring budget compared with the the United States and Russia.

But the government seeks to maximise the value of each new step into space, hailing it as proof of the nation's emergence as a power in science and technology.

All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse.


Related link:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

shenzhou_image

 

[Schumacher]

Re: Chinese Satellites

I see no one has noticed this launch 2 months ago of what looks like a significant development, boosting China's space tracking capability.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

By Craig Covault/Aviation Week & Space Technology

BEIJING - China is beginning the geosynchronous orbit checkout of its first relay satellite to increase communications coverage for manned Shenzhou spacecraft.The relay program is analogous to the U.S. Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system and indicates that China is installing major infrastructure for long-term manned space operations.

The Tianlian I spacecraft was launched from the Xichang space center April 25 onboard a Long March 3C booster.

In addition to the new relay payload, the flight is the first for the 3C launcher that combines two liquid strap-on boosters with the three-stage Long March 3A core vehicle. The 3C has been available for years, but the relay is the first with the payload requirements best suited for the 3C launch configuration.

Tianlian I will increase communications coverage to nearly 50 percent of each Shenzhou orbit compared with only about 12 percent coverage provided by Chinese ground stations and tracking ships. The satellite uses a DFH-3 bus that has been the basis for Chinese satcoms for the last 10 years.

The flight comes about six months in advance of the planned three-person Shenzhou VII mission, during which one Chinese astronaut will perform an extravehicular activity in a new Chinese-designed EVA space suit.

A second relay satellite also is planned, to eventually provide nearly 100 percent coverage for Shenzhou orbits, but the Chinese have yet to announce a launch date for the mission.


Copyright © 2008 Aviation Week, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

 

[Undead Yogurt]

Re: china manned space - news and views

SHENZHOU VII launch moved up to late September.

China sets dates for space launch
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News


China will launch its third manned space mission in late September, state-run news agency Xinhua reports.

The Shenzhou VII flight will feature China's first ever space walk, which will be broadcast live with cameras inside and outside the spacecraft.

Three "yuhangyuan" (astronauts) will blast off on a Long-March II-F rocket sometime between 25 and 30 September.

Previous reports in state media had put the launch in October, possibly during the National Day holiday.

In 2003, China became only the third country in the world to send a human into orbit. It followed with a two-man mission in 2005.

The spacecraft will be launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the country's north-western Gansu province.

Technically demanding

Technicians have been busily checking the readiness of the spacecraft, which will carry the crew into orbit on a mission lasting up to five days.

This flight will be more technically demanding than the last.


For the spacewalk, two crew members will go into the spacecraft's vacuum module. One yuhangyuan will carry out the spacewalk; the other is there to monitor the activity and assist in case of an emergency.

Two types of spacesuits - one made in China, the other from Russia - will be carried up on the flight.
It is unclear why China has opted for two different types of spacesuit.

Spaceflight analyst Dr Morris Jones commented that China might want to test the suits against each other. Alternatively, he said, it might not be ready or willing to fly a mission exclusively with its own suits.

The crew members, whose identities have not been released, have been training in a water tank to get used to weightlessness and to study procedures for the flight.

Bad vibrations

The Shenzhou spacecraft closely resembles the Russian Soyuz capsules, but is substantially larger. Unlike the Soyuz, it has an orbital module that is equipped with its own propulsion, allowing autonomous flight.

Testing of the spacecraft and the Long-March II-F rocket which will loft it into orbit is now complete, a Chinese space official told Xinhua.

Engineers have reportedly made over 30 technical improvements to the new rocket.

"There were some rocket vibrations after it took off which sometimes made our astronauts experience physical discomfort," Jin Muchun, the Long-March II-F's chief designer, told the state-owned television channel CCTV9 in July.

"So we have been trying to eliminate the vibrations by changing the frequency of the engine and the electric circuit of the rocket."

According to reports, a small satellite will also be launched during the mission.

China launched an unmanned Moon probe last year about one month after rival Japan blasted its own lunar orbiter into space.

In July, Dr Michael Griffin, the head of the US space agency Nasa), told BBC News that China was capable of sending a manned mission to the Moon in the next decade, if it so wished.

 

[yehe]

Re: china manned space - news and views

SHENZHOU VII launch moved up to late September.

I heard that this is just a rumor, denied by the space agency spokesman.

 

[Quickie]

Re: china manned space - news and views

I heard that this is just a rumor, denied by the space agency spokesman.

The rumour has turned out to be official news now. Amazing how things changed in such a short period of time and for more than once already.

 

[bd popeye]

Re: china manned space - news and views

A photo fresh from the Chinese space agency...

Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng (L), Zhai Zhigang (C) and Liu Boming salute before taking part in a drill for the launch of the Shenzhou-7 manned spacecraft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu province September 3, 2008. China will send its third manned mission into space on Thursday evening on a mission which will include its first space walk, the government said on September 24, 2008. Picture taken September 3, 2008.

 

[bd popeye]

Re: china manned space - news and views

Liftoff! My best wishes to the Chinese astronauts:china:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

JIUQUAN, China, Sept 25, 2008 (AFP) - Chinese President Hu Jintao Thursday declared the nation's third manned space launch a success, hailing a mission that will include its first ever space walk, state media said. "The launch of the Shenzhou VII spacecraft was completely successful," Hu said in a speech broadcast live on state television, at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China. Hu and other top leaders then shook hands with some of the experts present at the launch pad, extending their congratulations. The space flight, which has three astronauts on board, is China's riskiest yet as it includes the country's first ever space walk, due to be carried out by 41-year-old Zhai Zhigang, an airforce colonel.

by Robert J. Saiget
Jiuquan, China (AFP) Sept 25, 2008
China on Thursday launched its riskiest space flight yet, sending three men into orbit on a mission that will include the nation's first ever space walk, state media said.

The Shenzhou VII spacecraft lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China at 9:10 pm (1310 GMT) in the presence of President Hu Jintao and other senior leaders, state television reported live.

"The successful launch marked the first victory of the Shenzhou VII mission," a triumphant Hu said.

As the spacecraft entered its pre-set orbit, the three astronauts kept in contact with ground control, occasionally waving to a camera as notebooks floated around in the weightlessness of their shuttle cabin.

Hu earlier saw off the three, led by 41-year-old Zhai Zhigang, as they prepared for their 68-hour journey to space and back.

"I have come to send you off, to wish you success," Hu said in the televised meeting, carried out with the formality of an ancient Confucian ritual.

Zhai, an air force colonel who grew up in abject poverty in China's bleak northeast, is expected to carry out the 30-minute space walk either Friday or more likely Saturday, according to state media.

"We're determined to complete the manned space mission of Shenzhou VII," Zhai told Hu. "The motherland and the people can rest at ease."

The launch, a powerful symbol of China's emergence as a space power, came just before the 50th anniversary of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, on October 1.

Getting comfortable with the art of spacewalking is a crucial next step in China's most immediate extra-terrestrial ambition: to build a permanent space lab.

By 2010 two more unmanned craft will have been sent up, as well as another manned spaceship with a crew of three to start work on the lab, according to the China Daily.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said the mission was part of China's effort to "explore and make peaceful use of outer space."

"We believe this will further promote our space flight technology and make a contribution to the peaceful use of outer space for all human beings. We wish the Shenzhou VII mission a complete success," he said.

The astronauts have trained together for more than a decade, but the mission is not without its risks, notably the space walk.

"The process of (space walks) cannot be simulated completely on the ground," said Wang Zhaoyao, spokesman of the manned space mission.

"Some of the newly developed products have to be tested in flight for the first time."

One of the astronauts -- government websites have said it will be Zhai -- will test a new Chinese-made spacesuit on the space walk.

Coming just a month after the end of the Beijing Olympics, the mission may trigger a new burst of nationalist pride in some segments of the population.

Space enthusiasts hoping to witness for themselves China's next bid for greatness have been converging on Jiuquan, a city of about 340,000 people, mostly farmers and miners, in a remote part of Gansu province.

For those who were not successful in reaching the launch site, a large TV screen was erected in downtown Jiuquan, but rain kept most people indoors.

"It was an incredible launch. China has done it again. I feel proud every time they launch a rocket. Zhai Zhigang is my hero," said 23-year-old Wang Jun.

For Wang Xiaoyue, a 29-year-old employee of the tourism industry, pride centred on her home town.

"I'm honoured to be from Jiuquan. People from all over China know my city, and people from all over the world know the city," she said.

China first sent a man into space in 2003, becoming the third nation after the United States and the former Soviet Union to accomplish the feat.

The country's second manned space mission in 2005 sent two men into orbit for 115 hours, with the task of studying living and working conditions in space.

China's manned space programme is characterised by its frugality compared with the US and Soviet programmes in the 1960s, and it does not repeat a test or an experiment that has already proved successful, observers say.

The Shenzhou VII is scheduled to land in the northern Inner Mongolia region after the mission is completed.

 

[bd popeye]

Re: china manned space - news and views

Chinese astronauts, (L-R) Jing Haipeng, Zhai Zhigang and Liu Boming, all born in 1966 and all holding the rank of colonel, salute during a press conference inside the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in a remote desert area in northwest China's Gansu province, on September 24, 2008. The three Chinese astronauts due to blast off on September 25 for the country's third manned space mission, including a first space walk.

Chinese astronauts, left to right, Liu Boming, Zhai Zhigang and Jing Haipeng salutes during a ceremony before the launch of the Shenzhou 7 space craft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu province, on Thursday Sept. 25, 2008. China began counting down Thursday to an evening rocket launch that will put a crew of three men into space, including one who will make the country's first spacewalk.

In this image from Chinese Central Television, China's three astronauts, from left,Jing Haipeng, Zhai Zhigang, and Liu Boming watch their flight manuals float in the zero gravity environment after their space craft Shenzhou 7 launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu province on Thursday Sept 25, 2008. China launched the space craft that will put a crew of three men into space, including one who will make the country's first spacewalk.

In this vdeo capture image from Chinese Central Television, China's Shenzhou 7 space craft ignites during launch at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu province on Thursday Sept. 25, 2008

 

[Neutral Zone]

Re: china manned space - news and views

Liftoff! My best wishes to the Chinese astronauts:china:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Indeed! Good luck for a successful mission and a safe return! :china:

 

[bd popeye]

Re: china manned space - news and views

Here's a link to some excellent photos of the launch of Shenzhou 7:china: Go China! :china:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!