China set to launch bigger space programme

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This photo of the giant screen at the Jiuquan Space Centre shows the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft preparing to link with the Tiangong-1 module on June 24. China will deploy bigger spacecraft for longer missions following the success of its Shenzhou-9 voyage, allowing it to build a manned space station and potentially put a man on the moon, experts said.

China will deploy bigger spacecraft for longer missions following the success of its Shenzhou-9 voyage, allowing it to build a manned space station and potentially put a man on the moon, experts said.

The 13-day voyage of Shenzhou-9, which returned to Earth on Friday, was China's longest-ever space mission and included the nation's first woman astronaut among its three crew members.

In another first for China's 20-year space programme, which has cost more than $6 billion, the crew also achieved the country's first-ever manual docking with an orbital module, the Tiangong-1, a high-speed and high-risk manoeuvre.

In the next mission that will occur at the end of this year or in 2013, Shenzhou-10's astronauts will link up with Tiangong-1 in a similar flight, said Morris Jones, an Australian space expert focusing on China's programme.

The mission will be the last docking with the Tiangong-1, which was put into orbit in September last year.
Morris said no more astronauts would go on Tiangong-1 after the next mission. Then, in a few years, China will launch a more sophisticated version, the Tiangong-2.

When that comes into play, the dimensions of China's space programme will grow significantly, said Isabelle Sourbes-Verger, a specialist on China's space programme at France's National Centre for Scientific Research.

She said future vehicles would allow for larger space modules, longer missions and more powerful launch vehicles,


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This photo of the giant screen at the Jiuquan Space Centre shows Chinese astronauts Liu Wang (C), Jing Haipeng (L) and Liu Yang in the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft as it prepares to link with the Tiangong-1 module on June 24. The crew achieved the country's first-ever manual docking with an orbital module, the Tiangong-1, a high-speed and high-risk manoeuvre.

"Longer periods in space -- one to three months -- cannot take place unless there is a vehicle bigger than the 8.5 tonne Tiangong-1, which also did not appear to have a resupply system," she told AFP.

"Tiangong-1... will be followed by two other versions with more powerful 'life support' systems... and will possibly be capable of docking with a second vehicle."

China is also developing the Long March 5, a next-generation booster rocket that will be needed if the nation hopes to place a bigger space station in orbit, said Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the US Naval War College.

"Launching that space station... depends on the successful development of a new heavy launch vehicle, the Long March 5," she told AFP.

"I would expect to see this large space station in orbit within the next 10 years -- which could make it the de facto replacement for the now orbiting International Space Station (ISS)," said Johnson-Freese.

She was referring to the life expectancy of the ISS -- run by the American, Russian, Japanese, European and Canadian space agencies -- which is likely to function only to around 2020.

China has never been invited to join the ISS.

Sourbes-Verger said further advances in China's space station programme would "guarantee" that the country plays a major role should any eventual cooperation with the ISS take place.

To realise its ambitions beyond 2020, which may include sending a man to the moon, China has also been advancing its "Chang'e" exploration programme. This entails satellite launches to explore the lunar surface.

"Likely within the next five to eight years China will also make a decision as to whether to pursue a human lunar mission," Johnson-Freese said.

Meanwhile the United States, after retiring its space shuttle fleet, is also developing a new rocket and technologies to place a man on an asteroid or on Mars, she said.

"Both countries are moving forward, but not in a competitive path," she said.

China's space programme remains far behind the Americans. This was highlighted by the fact that the manual space docking trumpeted by the Chinese on the Shenzhou-9 mission was done by the Americans in the 1960s.

"If there is a space race going on, I think it is in Asia," Johnson-Freese said, pointing out that India had also set ambitious goals.

July 1, 2012 by Boris Cambreleng
(c) 2012 AFP_PHYS.ORG

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Module re-entry process: Shenzhou-9’s journey back to earth CCTV News - CNTV English.



After thirteen days in space, the astronauts aboard the Shenzhou-9 spaceship will return to the Earth.

The first stage of the process is for the re-entry module to separate from the orbital capsule.

The propulsion module will later separate from the re-entry module, after it’s propelled it to a lower altitude of 140 kilometers. The re-entry module will then adjust its position before making its entry into the atmosphere. Well, as we can see, according to accurate calculation, the module is to land at Siziwang Banner, in central Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Let's see this simple illustration. The module will pass through the so-called "black out area". At this stage, communication is impossible, due to high levels of friction with the atmosphere, causing extreme temperatures. When the capsule is out of the black-out area, several parachutes will be released one by one, to gradually slow the module's descent. When the vehicle gets below 10km, the heat shield will be jettisoned. At 1 meter above the ground, 4 small engines will ignite to reduce the speed to a safe range for landing. Once on the ground; the re-entry module will communicate with the control center to show its location, so rescue teams find it as soon as possible.

The completion of the Shenzhou-9 mission will bring China one step closer to building its own fully-fledged space station by 2020. China's permanent space station is expected to weigh about 60 tons, so it require rockets such as Long March 5 rockets to send different parts into space. At the hub of China's future space station will be the Core Module. It will control the station's altitude, propulsion, and life support systems for the astronauts.

At one end of the core module is a small connecting chamber. On each side of this are the two Laboratory Modules. Experiments can be carried out both inside and outside these modules, testing such things as exposure to cosmic rays, a vacuum environment, and solar winds. On the other end of the space station is the cargo delivery module, which will carry supplies, equipment and energy stocks. Back on the other side, attached to the connecting chamber will be the Shenzhou spacecraft which will travel between the space station and the earth. China's space station is an ambitious and complicated structure but it’s still only about one-sixth the size of the International Space Station.

Currently flying at an orbit of around 400 kilometers above the earth is the International Space Station. The US and Russia have led the design and construction of the ISS, with 16 other countries also contributing to the project. China's main contribution to the ISS is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. It is a particle physics experimental instrument designed to search for anti-matter and dark matter. These two mysteries have been puzzling scientists for decades according to theory, they should exist.  But so far, no direct evidence has been found. It's planned that the ISS will plunge back into the ocean in 2028.

By that time, if China's space program goes according to plan, China's space complex will then be the only space station orbiting the earth.

The Success on road to space!

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The return of the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft to Earth Friday morning marked the end of a 13-day journey through space for three Chinese astronauts.

But it also marked the beginning of a new journey for China as it inches closer to its goal of building a space station.

China's space program has accomplished in 20 years' time the same tasks that took developed nations nearly half a century to accomplish, including manned space flights, space walks and a manned space docking procedure.

The recent successful docking of the Shenzhou-9 and Tiangong-1 lab module marks a new height for Chinese space exploration, as well as a new leap forward for national rejuvenation.

China's space exploration took a long time to ramp up. In 1992, 43 years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the country decided to establish its manned space program.

Scientific policies have facilitated the program and helped it develop comprehensively and sustainably. The aerospace industry was given a larger role in the country's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) and authorities have taken pains to implement every step of the manned space program with great care.

The success of the Shenzhou-9 has demonstrated the power of China's collective wisdom and capability. About 110 research institutions have directly participated in the manned space program thus far, with more than 3,000 institutions and units coordinating their efforts.

The mission has also demonstrated the success of socialism, showing that it has the political advantage of accumulating wisdom and resources to achieve great things.

Facing limitless space, China's space program is only just beginning. The country will face challenges on its road to rejuvenation, but the success of the mission has boosted national confidence and shown China's people that the country's space program will have a bright future.- Xinhuat

Touchdown! Chinese Space Capsule With 3 Astronauts Returns to Earth 

by SPACE.com Staff

Date: 28 June 2012 Time: 10:06 PM ET

This photograph of a China CCTV broadcast shows the Shenzhou 9 space capsule lying on its side after landing in an autonomous region of China in Inner Mongolia on June 29, 2012 Beijing time (10 p.m. June 28 EDT) to end a 13-day mission to the Tiangong 1 space lab module.
CREDIT: CCTV

Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth Thursday (June 28) after 13 days in space on a historic mission that made their country only the third nation ever to successfully dock a manned spacecraft to another in orbit.

China's Shenzhou 9 space capsule landed at about10 p.m. EDT (10 a.m. Friday, June 29 Beijing time) in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China.  To prepare for their journey home, the space crew — which included China's first female astronaut Liu Yang — separated the Shenzhou 9 capsule its target, the Tiangong 1 prototype space module, on Wednesday (June 27).

Their landing was broadcast live on China's state-run CCTV television network, showing the capsule streaking through the atmosphere like a meteor, deploying its main parachute, then making the final landing and rolling over on its side in a rough touchdown.

"We fulfilled the first manned manual docking," mission commander Jing Haipeng told CCTV reporters after exiting the Shenzhou 9 capsule. His comments in Chinese were translated into English by CCTV. "For the country and people all across the country, thank you for your concerns."  [Photos of China's Shenzhou 9 Mission]

Jing and crewmates Liu Yang and Liu Wang appeared to be in good health after their space mission. The trio wore broad smiles and waved to cameras after leaving their spacecraft, but did sit in reclined chairs to help ease their adaptation back to Earth's gravity after nearly two weeks in weightlessness.

Shortly after the landing, China's Premier Wen Jiabao proclaimed the Shenzhou 9 mission a complete success.

"This manned docking mission of Tiangong 1 and Shenzhou 9 marks a large milestone, a major breakthrough for China to master the space docking technology," Wen said while reading a statement. "And also, it marks a decisive step forward on China's second step on its space strategy."

Chinese astronaut Jing Haipeng, commander of the Shenzhou 9 mission, salutes after exiting the space capsule following landing in Inner Mongolia autonomous mission on June 28, 2012.
CREDIT: China Central Television/CCTV

China's big space leap

China's Shenzhou 9 mission, which included successful displays of manual and automatic dockings, represented an important leap forward for China's space program. In addition to being China's longest space mission to date, it also tested technology vital for the country's goal of building space station in orbit by the year 2020.

"Chinese astronauts have their own home in space now," Jing told China's President Hu Jintao on Tuesday (June 26) during a special call according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. "We are proud of our country!"

And while the orbital linkups are important technological achievements for China, the mission also carried a wider social impact because it included the country's first female astronaut: the 33-year-old Liu Yang.

"It was like a home in Tiangong, and I feel very happy and proud of my country," Liu Yang told reporters after landing.

Jing, the commander, is China's first veteran astronaut to fly in space twice. The third crewmember, Liu Wang, served as the Shenzhou 9 docking pilot.

"It feels really good to feel the ground and to be back home," Liu Wang said.

Shenzhou 9 mission, which launched into space on June 16, accomplished China's first manned space docking, after the spacecraft robotically docked to Tiangong 1 on June 18. Several days later, on June 24, the astronauts backed away from the orbiting module and parked their Shenzhou 9 spacecraft once more, demonstrating manual control over the procedure as well.



The successful linkups made China only the third country, after the United States and Russia, to accomplish manned dockings in orbit.

The Shenzhou 9 mission, as well as experiments performed aboard Tiangong 1 throughout the flight, tested technologies that will help China fulfill its goal of building a 60-ton space station in orbit by 2020.

"The data will help us improve technologies for astronauts' future, long-term stays in a space station," said Chen Shanguang, chief commander of the mission's astronaut system, according to Xinhua

China is not a member nation of the $100 billion International Space Station in low-Earth orbit, a roughly 430-ton orbiting outpost that is jointly operated by more than a dozen countries.

But Chinese officials have outlined an ambitious space program for the nation, which includes collecting samples from the moon and robotically returning them to Earth before landing astronauts on the lunar surface.

The Shenzhou 9 mission is China's fourth manned spaceflight. Previous expeditions were launched in 2003, 2005 and 2008.

The Tiangong 1 test module was launched into orbit in September 2011. In November, a robotic spacecraft, called Shenzhou 8, completed the country's first unmanned space docking. According to Chinese officials, Tiangong 1 has performed well, and could play host to another crew in the near future.

"Based on current conditions, the service of Tiangong 1 can be extended," said He Yu, chief commander of the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, reported Xinhua. "It has consumed less than one-fourth of its fuel and no back-up systems have been used."

Depending on its condition, the module could remain in orbit as China continues its space station construction efforts.

"If Tiangong 1 was in perfect shape, it could work side by side with Tiangong 2, which will be launched in the future," He said.

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China's Space Age Grows Up As U.S. Space Race Winds Down

The Russians started the space race back in the 1950s.

This picture taken on June 12, 2012 shows Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force fighter pilot Liu Yang (L) together with her two male colleagues, Jing Haipeng (C) and Liu Wang (R), in their spacesuits as they pose for an official photo at the Jiuquan space base, north China's Gansu province. China said on June 15, 2012 that a female astronaut will be among the three-person team on board the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft, and will take off at 6.37 pm (1037 GMT) on June 16 from the Jiuquan space base in the Gobi desert for the country's fourth manned space launch, with Liu Yang, 33, and two male astronauts on board. (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)

Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

The U.S. perfect it with putting a man on the moon, then with a series of modern high tech space shuttle missions and Mars ROVERS.  But now, the final frontier captains are more likely to be Russians, with their hopes for a human Mars landing someday, or Chinese, with a new China space station due within the next 8 years.

While the U.S. has basically scrapped its space mission, slashing the budget of NASA and now too close to a fiscal cliff to invest in fly-by-night government funded manned space operations, China is on the move.

The country’s Shenzhou IX spacecraft, carrying two male astronauts and one female astronaut into space this week, completed its first-ever manual docking with the Tiangong I space lab on Sunday.  The manual docking of two ships whipping through space ultimately demonstrates China’s grasp of essential space rendezvous and docking know-how. Manual docking requires astronauts to have a precise judgement on the relative distance between Shenzhou IX and the Tiangong-1 module, a challenge to their capability of coordination, accuracy and psychological stability. The astronauts have done more than 1,500 docking simulations on the ground to ensure a successful manual docking.

Their successful completion of the docking mission at 12:47 pm local time on Sunday means China is fully capable of transferring humans and cargo to an orbiter in space much like the Americans, only the Americans have abandoned further work in this area beyond the current International Space Station expedition which ends next month. That current mission is actually being commanded by Oleg Dmitrievich Komonenko, a Russian national born in Turkmenistan.  He’s one of three Russians on the Russian Proton vesssel, with two Americans and one astronaut from The Netherlands.

China’s three astronauts boarded Tiangong through Shenzhou IX where they will continued conducting various scientific experiments on the space lab before heading returning.

By Kenneth Rapoza, Forbes Contributor

Covering Brazil, Russia, India & China.

See: Will China Blast Past America In Space? — National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation”

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Jun 24, 2012

How to See China's Space Capsule and Lab Module in Night Sky

A Chinese Long March 2F rocket launches on the Shenzhou 9 mission, China's first manned space docking flight and first flight of a female astronaut, on June 16, 2012 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. CREDIT: China Manned Space Engineering Office View full size image

The launch of China's fourth human spaceflight this weekend kicked off a major docking test flight, and there's a chance you can see the two spaceships involved in the orbital rendezvous in tonight's night sky.

China's Shenzhou 9 space capsule launched into orbit Saturday (June 16) with a crew of three astronauts aboard, including China's first female spaceflyer Liu Yang. The crew's mission is to rendezvous with China's existing space laboratory module Tiangong 1, which has been circling Earth since its own launch last September.

The two spacecraft are expected to dock for the first time on Monday (June 18), which means that if you live in a part of the world that is along the Shenzhou 9 mission's flight path, tonight is your last chance (weather permitting) to see the space capsule and Tiangong 1 orbiting lab flying separately before they link up.

 This spectacular view shows the rocket boosters separating as planned from China's Long March 2F rocket during the successful launch of Shenzhou 9 on June 16, 2012.

CREDIT: China Central Television/CCTV

View full size image

Here's how to find out if the Shenzhou 9 capsule and Tiangong 1 will be visible from your location:

First, some tips: Keep in mind that the key to spacecraft viewing from Earth are dark skies (away from bright city lights), clear weather and good planning to know when and where to look to see the vehicles. Satellites and manned spacecraft often appear as bright pinpoints of lights that move quickly across the night sky. 

Analysts say China's exclusion from the ISS, largely on objections from the United States, was one of the key spurs for it to pursue an independent program 20 years ago.

The International Space Station, for example, is the largest human-built structure in space and can appear so bright in the sky that its brilliance rivals that of the planet Venus at times. Since the Tiangong 1 lab and Shenzhou 9 capsule are smaller than the space station, they will likely not appear as bright.

The following three websites are good starting points to determining if the vehicles involved in the Shenzhou 9 mission may be visible from your region.

• Chris Peat's Heavens Above
• NASA's SkyWatch
• Spaceweather.com

Each site will ask for a zip code or city, and then respond with a list of suggested spotting times. The predictions are computed a few days ahead of time are usually accurate within a few minutes. But they have been known to change, so be sure to check frequently for updates.

Another good resource is the website Real Time Satellite Tracking, which shows which part of the Earth a wide variety of spacecraft happen to be flying over at any given moment during the day or night.





Watch live online via CCTV news channel here: http://english.cntv.cn/special/shenzhou9/index.shtml

China's 13-day Shenzhou 9 mission will dock twice at the Tiangong 1 space lab, first in an automatic mode and then again in a manual mode, to demonstrate spaceflight rendezvous technology. Chinese space officials have said the test flight is vital to the country's plans to begin building a full-fledged space station in 2020.

Editor's note: If you snap amazing photos of China's Shenzhou 9 capsule or Tiangong 1 module in orbit that you'd like to be considered for use in a story or gallery, please send pictures and comments to SPACE.com managing editor Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com.

You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter @tariqjmalik. Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+.

by Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor Date: 17 June 2012 Time: 07:00 AM ET

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The very latest on Saturday's launch of the historic Shenzhou-9 space mission. Both the crew and the launch time have been announced by a spokesman for China’s manned space program.



The Shenzhou-9 spaceship will be launched at 18:37 Beijing time on Saturday June 16th. The crew will consist of PLA astronauts Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang, and the first ever Chinese female astronaut, Liu Yang.

Astronaut Jing Haipeng.

The Shenzhou-9 is due to perform China’s first ever manned space docking mission with the Tiangong-1 orbiting module. It will be launched on board China’s Long March 2F rocket carrier.

All preparations have been completed at the launch site, and all systems are ready for the launch. The astronauts are said to be in good condition and are doing their final preparation work. The Shenzhou-9 mission headquarters is due to hold a press conference this afternoon, with the crew members due to meet the press. We’ll bring you full coverage of that as it happens.

Astronaut Liu Wang.

Astronaut Liu Yang.  Liu Yang, China's first woman astronaut waves as she leaves after attending a meet the press event at the Jiuquan satellite launch center near Jiuquan in western China's Gansu province, Friday, June 15, 2012. (AP / Ng Han Guan) View Larger Image Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/SciTech/20120615/china-space-manned-mission-120615/#ixzz1xvLRiFlA Related stories China's space lab Tiangong-1 enters docking orbit 2012-06-15 US astronauts wish Chinese peers well 2012-06-15 Crossover: Astronauts' final line-up 2012-06-14 Space module made for China's female astronauts 2012-06-14 China's first female astronaut meets media China's astronauts Jing Haipeng (C), Liu Wang (R) and Liu Yang meet with media in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province, June 15, 2012. The three astronauts will board Shenzhou-9 spacecraft on Saturday to fulfill China's first manned space docking mission. (Xinhua/Li Gang)     1 2 3 4 5 6 7   JIUQUAN, June 15 (Xinhua) -- China's first female astronaut Liu Yang, together with her two male crew mates Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang, met the media on Friday. The three astronauts will board the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft on Saturday at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China to fulfill China's first manned space docking mission. "I am grateful to the motherland and the people. I feel honored to fly into the space on behalf of hundreds of millions of female Chinese citizens," said Liu Yang. She said that to be an astronaut, one has to obtain a lot of theoretical knowledge, go through very challenging space living environment training and survive examinations on operation skills with no error. "The sense of mission and responsibility as well as the passion for aerospace undertakings are the source of courage to overcome difficulties," she said. "When I was a pilot, I flew in the sky. Now I am an astronaut, I will fly in the space. That will be a higher and farther flight," Liu said. She said many tasks have been arranged for this space trip. "Aside from fulfilling the tasks, I want to experience the fantastic environment in space and appreciate the beautiful Earth and our homeland from the space." She said she will keep a detailed record of her feelings and experiences and share with scientists and future astronauts when she comes back. She also expressed her gratefulness to all the people. "I will live up to your expectations and work with my teammates to fulfil this space mission," she said. All three crew members are former pilots of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). They are all members of the Communist Party of China. Enlisted in the army in 1997, Liu was a veteran pilot with 1,680 hours of flying experience and the deputy head of a flight unit of the PLA's Air Force before being recruited into China's second batch of prospective astronauts in May 2010. She is now an air force major. After two years of training that has shored up her astronautic skills and adaptability to the space environment, Liu excelled in testing and was selected in March this year as a candidate to crew the Shenzhou-9.     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 China to send its first woman into space June 15, 2012 by NG HAN GUAN, PHYS.COM   Enlarge File photo of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force women fighter pilots at a PLA base in Beijing. China said Friday a female astronaut will be among the three-person team on board the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft, which will launch on Saturday, the official Xinhua news agency reported. (AP) — China will launch three astronauts, including a mother of one who flies transport planes, to live and work on a space station for about a week, a major step in its goal of becoming only the third nation with a permanent base orbiting Earth. Liu Yang, a 34-year-old, volleyball-playing air force pilot, and two male colleagues are expected to be launched Saturday in the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft that will dock with the bus-sized Tiangong 1 space module now orbiting 322 kilometers (200 miles) above the Earth. Two of the astronauts will live and work inside the module to test its life-support systems while the third will remain in the capsule to deal with unexpected emergencies. State media have said the mission will last about 10 days before the astronauts travel back to Earth in the capsule that will land on the Western Chinese grasslands with the help of parachutes. Success in docking — and in living and working aboard the Tiangong 1 — would smooth the way for more ambitious projects, such as sending a man to the moon, and add to China's international prestige in line with its growing economic prowess. If completed, the mission will put China alongside the United States and Russia as the only countries to have independently maintained space stations, a huge boost to Beijing's ambitions of becoming a space power. It already is in the exclusive three-nation club to have launched a spacecraft with astronauts on its own. The mission "demonstrates China's commitment to its long-term human spaceflight plan," said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on the Chinese space program at the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island. She said its success "will demonstrate the technological capabilities requisite for a future permanent space station." Still, that is some years away. The Tiangong 1 is only a prototype, and the plan is to eventually replace it with a permanent — and bigger — space station due for completion around 2020. The permanent station will weigh about 60 tons, slightly smaller than NASA's Skylab and about one-sixth the size of the 16-nation International Space Station. Analysts say China's exclusion from the ISS, largely on objections from the United States, was one of the key spurs for it to pursue an independent program 20 years ago, which reaches a high point with Saturday's launch. The three astronauts will conduct scientific and engineering tasks on Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, which was put into orbit in September. Morris Jones, an Australian writer and space analyst, said they will also conduct experiments, likely including physiological tests on themselves, in anticipation of longer stays in future. China first launched a man into space in 2003 followed by a two-man mission in 2005 and a three-man trip in 2008 that featured China's first space walk. In November 2011, the unmanned Shenzhou 8, successfully docked with the Tiangong 1 by remote control — twice to show the durability of the system. While operating with limited resources, China's space program is a source of huge national pride and enjoys top-level political and military backing. This has left it largely immune from the budgetary pressures affecting NASA, although China doesn't say what it spends on the program. The selection of the first female astronaut is giving the program an additional publicity boost. State media have gushed this week about Liu, pointing out that she once successfully landed her plane after a bird strike disabled one of its engines. As with China's other female astronaut candidates, Liu is married and has a child, a requirement because the space program worries that exposure to space radiation may affect fertility. The Associated Press.   Newscribe : get free news in real time   Related post: China to launch 3 astronauts in new manned space flight docking

Moving to the next frontier of space programme

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MADE IN CHINA By CHOW HOW BAN

CHINA is moving in the right direction to build a 60-tonne space station around 2020.

On Nov 3, the unmanned Shenzhou 8 shuttle docked with Tiangong-1, which is China’s first space lab module, after travelling 343km in orbit.

The shuttle separated from the target spacecraft after 12 days and carried out its second docking on Nov 14. Two days later, Shenzhou 8 left Tiangong-1 and returned to Earth as scheduled.

News from the China Manned Space Engineering Office is that Tiangong-1 has continued its voyage at a height of 370km smoothly and transferred into a long-term operational mode.

The space lab module will wait for docking with the manned Shenzhou 9 and 10 sometime next year.

According to the office’s vice-director Wang Zhaoyao, during the flight of Shenzhou 8 its general biological experimental device functioned normally and 17 samples of Sino-Germany cooperative space life science experiments were recovered after the shuttle landed at the recovery site in Inner Mongolia.

He said Tiangong-1 had also carried out a series of experiments and tests as scheduled, including space-to-earth remote sensing exploration application experiment, space materials scientific experiment and space environment and physical detection tests.

“This space rendezvous and mission has fully realised its objective of ‘accurate entry into orbit, precise docking, stable assembly operation and safe return’.

“It marks a critical breakthrough for China’s space technology and set a milestone for our manned space development,” he told a press conference recently.

Wang said Tiangong-1, launched into orbit on Sept 29, was designed with a lifespan of more than two years and it would be well maintained until its following docking operations next year.

Under China’s space programme, after completing its first round of missions, Tiangong-1 will return to earth in 2013. It will be replaced by the larger Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3 modules which will conduct more sophisticated space probes.



Tiangong-3 will probably be a 60-tonne full-size space station to be manned by astronauts.

The China’s Manned Space Engineering Office maintained that China is not working on the space station development alone and the country always welcomed other nations.

“We emphasise independent development but never said we want to develop in isolation. The development and operation of China’s space station are open to foreign colleagues and experts in the field on the principle of mutual respect and benefit, transparency and openness,” Wang said.

China has had fruitful space cooperation with Russia, Germany, France and other nations.

China would like to be involved in the building of the International Space Station together six other space agencies but because of various reasons, China remains excluded from the programme, he added.

He also refuted claims that China’s manned space programmes had military functions.

“We can say that none of the eight Shenzhou missions had direct military applications. But, we all know that space-related technological developments can be used in civilian and military sectors.

“For example, a communications satellite can be used for TV broadcasting and military communication. So it depends on what you use it for,” he added.

Wang hoped that critics would be responsible and fair when criticising China’s space programmes.

“The United States and some media have been criticising our space exploration programme and development saying is not transparent enough. First of all, they have to be fair in their comments.

“Last year, I accompanied Nasa administrator Charles Bolden for a tour of our space programme facilities, laboratories and launching centres in China. He was pleased on how transparent we were,” he said.

China’s space programme consists of three stages. Phase 1 saw the historic launch of the unmanned Shenzhou 1 shuttle in 1999 for missions to conduct space experiments. It was followed by the launch of Shenzhou 2, Shenzhou 3, Shenzhou 4, Shenzhou 5, Shenzhou 6 and Shenzhou 7.

The Shenzhou 7 mission, China’s third manned spacecraft, was the most historic when Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang became the first man from China to do a spacewalk on Sept 27, 2008. It marked a successful extra-vehicular activity (EVA) mission for China.

Phase 2 began with the launch of the Tiangong-1 space module. One of the main missions during this phase will be the docking of a manned space shuttle with the space lab.

The space programme administration will decide between Shenzhou 9 and 10 which one will be manned by China’s first female astronaut next year.

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