Chinese Manned Space Programme Overview
A further three unmanned flights of the Shnzhou spacecraft were carried out successfully between January 2001 and December 2002. The first manned flight took place on 15 October 2003, when Shenzhou 5 carrying PRC’s first astronaut Yang Liwei was successfully launched from Jiuquan. After travelling 21 hours and 23 minutes on low-Earth orbit, the spaceship landed safely in Inner Mongolia, making China the first country in more than 30 years to join the United States and Russia in the exclusive club of manned mission launchers.
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| The first Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei greeting the crowd before the launch of Shenzhou 5 mission (Source: Chinese Internet) |
The Project 921 entered its second phase in late 2005, with the first mission Shenzhou 7 scheduled in October 2008. The spacecraft will carry a mission crew of three men and the flight mission is expected to include some ex-vehicular activities (space walk). Once this is achieved, several further launches are possibly scheduled in 2009/10 to perform unmanned and manned space docking operations with a target spacecraft. This will eventually lead to the establishment of a “Space Lab”, a mini space station which is man-tended on a temporary basis and left flying along on autonomous mode.
In 2005, PRC space officials confirmed to the press that a new round of selection process for astronauts were underway. This was to support spaceflight missions in 2012 and beyond. Like the previous selections, the candidates were also chosen from active-duty fighter pilots in service with the PLAAF. However, this round of selection will for the first time include several female candidates.
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| An artist impression of the Space Lab in the orbit (Source: Chinese Internet) |
In the third phase of the Project 921, the PRC is planning to build a permanently-manned space station of 20 tonnes mass, roughly in the same class as Zvezda, the core module of the International Space Station (ISS). Modules of the space station will have to be launched by the new generation CZ-5 space launch vehicle (SLV) from the newly-built Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre in Hainan Island, which is expected to become operational by 2012.
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| Artist impression of the future PRC space station in the orbit (Source: Chinese Internet) |
The PRC space industry is also studying the concept of a new-generation reusable space-earth transport system, which may eventually replace the Shenzhou spacecraft currently in use. Images of an aerodynamic scaled model, ready to be launched from under the fuselage of a H-6A bomber, were first published on the Chinese Internet in December 2007. The system, expected to first fly around 2020, was said to be similar in concept to the U.S. space shuttle (vertical launch, horizontal landing), but is more reliable and economic than the latter. The space industry is also interested in a spaceplane with the horizontal take-off and landing capability.
Beyond Project 921
Although PRC space officials are reluctant to talk about future plans in the PRC’s space programme, some details that have emerged in the past suggest that Moon landing will be the next target. Currently the PRC is conducting its lunar exploration project—Chang’e, which has already successfully sent an orbiting probe to circle around the Moon in 2007. In the next phase, a lunar landing probe will be sent to explore the Moon surface. In the final phase, a lunar sample return mission is planned. On the basis of the Project 921-III and the Lunar Exploration Project, the PRC will possess the technology to land human on the Moon. If everything goes according to the plan, the PRC is expected to put first Chinese on the Moon by 2020, followed by a permanent lunar base by 2030.
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