Recovery team examining the returned ShenZhou 3 re-entry capsule at the landing site (Click to enlarge)
ShenZhou 3 was third unmanned flight mission for China’s Project 921 manned space programme. The spacecraft used on the ShenZhou 3 mission was the first fully equipped design with all that would be need for a manned flight, including the life support and emergency escape system. The spacecraft carried a dummy astronaut that can simulate human breathing and metabolism inside the re-entry capsule to test the life support system in space environment. Other mission payloads included a range of space life science experiment equipments, seeds, and souvenirs.
The ShenZhou 3 was originally scheduled to be launched in January 2002. However, a defective connector was detected on the CZ-2F launch vehicle. Upon investigation it was identified that the problem was caused by a design flaw on the connector. Another 73 similar connectors were found in the launch vehicle. The command department for the ShenZhou 3 launch decided to have the launch vehicle removed from the launch pad and totally dissembled so that all potential problematical connectors could be replaced. This was the first time in China's space programme history that an already assembled launch vehicle had to be removed from the launch pad.
Three months later, the revised launch vehicle carrying the ShenZhou 3 spacecraft successfully took off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on 25 March 2002 at 22:00 local time (24 March 2002 14:00 GMT). After staying in the earth orbit for 6 days 18 hours 51 minutes, the spacecraft’s re-entry capsule returned to earth in central Inner Mongolia on 1 April 2002 at 16:51 local time (08:51 GMT). The orbit module remained in orbit until 12 November 2002.
