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Photo taken on Oct. 17, 2005 shows the
re-entry capsule of China's second manned spacecraft, Shenzhou-6, at its
landing site in Siziwang Banner (County), north China's Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region. The re-entry capsule of the Shenzhou-6 sapcecraft,
which blasted off on Oct. 12 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in
northwest China's Gansu Province, touched down at the landing site in
Siziwang Banner, at 4:33 am Oct. 17 (2033 GMT) following a five-day
mission. (Xinhua File Photo)
Photo Gallery>>> |
Special Report: 2nd Manned Space
Mission
BEIJING, March. 7 -- China is planning to conduct its
first spacewalk in October from a Shenzhou VII spacecraft, senior space
engineers said Wednesday.
They also said a research team had been set up to
conduct a feasibility study for a space station.
Wang Yongzhi, former chief designer of China's Manned
Space Program, said the launch date had originally been scheduled for after the
Olympics (Aug 8 to 24) and Paralympics (Sept 6 to 17).
"The Shenzhou VII will be launched some time in
October if everything goes as planned," he said on the sidelines of the ongoing
session of the 11th National Committee of CPPCC.
"The exact launch date will be decided according to
weather conditions."
Shenzhou VII, to be launched from the Jiuquan
Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province, will be the country's third manned
mission. Shenzhou VI was launched on Oct 12, 2005, and Shenzhou V on Oct 15,
2003.
With the launch of Shenzhou V, China became the third
country, after the Soviet Union and the United States, to carry out a manned
space mission.
Qi Faren, former chief designer of the Shenzhou
spacecraft series, said the country is technically ready to carry out its maiden
spacewalk.
There will be three taikonauts, as China's astronauts
are known, aboard the Shenzhou VII. One of them will be conducting the
spacewalk.
"We have achieved breakthroughs in all of the areas
needed (for the spacewalk) and also completed all ground tests," Qi, a member of
the CPPCC National Committee, said.
"We are now in the final stages of inspections and
tests."
The spacewalk requires high technical standards for
security and the life support and energy supply systems, as the taikonauts will
spend three to five days in space.
In addition to the spacewalk, the crew is expected to
perform such extra-vehicular work as installing equipment and tightening screws.
Qi said 14 taikonauts, all male, are undergoing
intense training, but the final three have yet to be decided.
Yuan Jie, president of Shanghai Academy of
Spaceflight Technology, said earlier this year that the spacewalk might be
broadcast live.
He said Shenzhou VII is equipped to record images of
the walk, but it has not been decided if the broadcast will be live or a
recorded version.
Qi said yesterday the ability to conduct a spacewalk
is crucial to establishing a big space laboratory or station.
"As the taikonauts will move out of their spacecraft
to swap places with the occupants of other space vehicles, the mission will
offer a crucial technical practice for building a large space lab or station in
the future," he said.
Wang Yongzhi also said experts had been conducting a
feasibility study for a space station.
"Our space station plan is still being appraised and
has yet to be approved by the space administration," he said. "So there is no
specific timetable."
But he said officials had been pushing hard for the
country to build a space station by 2020, the third and final phase of its
manned space program.
(Source: China Daily)
Shenzhou VII spaceship airlock module,
spacesuit pass initial ground tests
BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- China has passed initial
ground tests for its Shenzhou VII spaceship airlock module and an extravehicular
spacesuit, Thursday's China daily quoted a top scientist as saying. Full Story
China's Shenzhou VII spacecraft under
assembly
ZHUHAI, Guangdong, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's third manned
spacecraft is under assembly, a chief Shenzhou spacecraft consultant said here
Thursday. Full Story
Official: Development of China's
Shenzhou VII spacecraft going smoothly
BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese space
program official said here on Wednesday development of the Shenzhou VII manned
spacecraft is proceeding smoothly, but declined to give a timetable for its
launch. Full Story
China to build a space station after
Shenzhou VII
BEIJING, April 27 -- China will launch Shenzhou VII with
three astronauts in September 2008, after the Beijing Olympic Games, said Song
Zhengyu, deputy director-designer of carrier rocket F of March II and research
fellow of the first institute of the China Aerospace Science & Technology
Corp (CASTC). Full Story
