BEIJING, July 2 -- The team that developed Shenzhou
VII, China's third manned spacecraft, will begin the final test at Jiuquan
Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province in a few days.
Zhang Bainan, chief designer of the spacecraft, said
on Tuesday that the research and development team of China Aerospace Science and
Technology Corp (CASC) will leave for Jiuquan early this month.
Chinese astronauts practice manoeuvring
in a water tank designed to simulate the low-gravity environment of
space.(Xinhua File Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
This,
according to insiders, signals the final preparation stage of the country's
third manned space mission.
Shenzhou VII is scheduled to carry three astronauts
and blast off atop the Long March-2F rocket from Jiuquan in October.
The Long March-2F rocket will be carried to the
launch site in the beginning of August, a spokesman for China's manned space
program said on Tuesday.
One of the astronauts will be the first Chinese to
walk in space as part of the second stage of the country's manned space mission.
The mission is aimed at mastering two key
technologies necessary for setting up a space laboratory or station, where
spacecraft can dock and perform extra-vehicular activities, reports said.
Shenzhou VII, which means "divine vessel" in Chinese,
has passed the inspections of the CASC and an expert panel, he said. "Its
functions and performance fulfill the comprehensive requirements of the space
program."
Yuan Jiajun, deputy general manager of the CASC, said
the mission is the riskiest in China's space program.
The mission, Zhang said, differs from earlier ones in
three ways.
First, it will carry out "extra-vehicular
activities", which will put homemade airlock module and space suits to strict
tests in space for the first time.
Second, the three astronauts will stay in Shenzhou
VII for up to five days, testing its rated capacity.
Third, experiments will be conducted with some new
satellite communication technologies.
To ensure that the mission is a success, experts have
prepared plans to deal with more than 30 emergency situations to guarantee the
astronauts' safety, Zhang said.
In 2003, China became the third country to send an
astronaut into space. The US and the erstwhile Soviet Union (now Russia) are the
others to have done so.
BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhua) -- China's
Shenzhou VII manned space mission, which will include the first spacewalk by a
Chinese "taikonaut," is to launch in October, said a spokesman of the China
manned space engineering office here on Thursday.
He would not give the exact date of the launch, but
said a day would be selected in October. Full story
A virtual image of an astronaut
spacewalking outside the Shenzhou VII spaceship. (Photo: Chinadaily.com,
File Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
BEIJING, Feb. 21 -- An airlock module for the
Shenzhou VII spaceship and an extravehicular spacesuit - key elements of China's
first spacewalk mission scheduled for later this year - have passed initial
ground tests, a top scientist said yesterday.
"Both the airlock module and the extravehicular
spacesuit passed the tests, which simulated the zero-gravity environment of
space," Yang Baohua, head of the China Academy of Space Technology, said. Full story
