Space China Manned Space Program

First Chinese Manned Space Flight

After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, Chinese leader Mao Zedong had instructed his country’s scientists and engineers to prepare a satellite of their own, to launch in 1959, in honour of the 'Great Leap Forward,' Chinese plan for rapid industrialisation, which eventually failed. But the country didn’t have the necessary technology for such a exploit as any Chinese effort to space was to be repeatedly derailed by political turmoil in the following decades. The first Chinese satellite launched at last in 1970 had been with the single purpose to play the first few bars of Cultural Revolution song 'East Is Red.' China began mastering space flight, using transformed strategic missiles, since the 1950s' end as it launched its first unmanned satellite in April 1970, the 'Dongfanghong-I.' Its manned program was initiated in the 1990s as it is run by the military. A cautious series of unmanned test-flights -including some with dummies-astronauts- led to the first real-time, manned flight on October 15th-16th, 2003. It was a one-man crewed flight only. The Chinese astronaut -the Chinese say "taikonaut" or "yuhangyuan" (in Chinese, which means 'large emptiness' man')- completed 14 orbits in 21 hours. The "Shenzhou" craft -which means 'sacred vessel' in Chinese- was launched on Wednesday, October 15th, 2003 at 09:00 a.m local time (01:00 UT) from the Jiuquan Space Center, in the Gobi Desert, atop a Long March rocket. The craft eventually landed on Thursday, 06:23 local time (22:23 UT) in Inner Mongolia after having come back Earth Soyuz-fashion

What's the Meaning of Chinese Space Program?

->The Tiangong-1 Module, to Launch by 2010, Will Constitute the Basis for A Permanent Chinese Space Station!
In the perspective of building its own space station, China is to launch, by 2010, the 'Tiangong-1' module ('Tiangong', in Chinese, is meaning 'Celestial Palace'). The 8.5 tons module will already then be able to harbour astronauts, living and performing science experiments. Several Tiangong modules, as docked together, will eventually form the Chinese orbital station. A Shenzhou-8 spacecraft will dock to the first module in 2011. It looks like the project too has to be considered in the terms of the influence of Russia upon the Chinese space program, as the Russians, during the Cold War, had had the Soviets specialized into the long-duration sojourns in space aboard space stations like the Salyut or Mir. The purposes of those, since, never clearly were explained!

the Long March-II F launcher with the Shenzhou-7 vessel being transported to the launch pad. picture courtesy VOA News

Some saw China's first space manned flight like a military warning. China would have made clear that it was mastering space technology and that it was ready to take part in any struggle involving space as a battlefield. More pecularily, such a flight could have meant that China was able to back any attack against Taiwan from space. The date of the flight, on the other hand, might not have been chosen by chance. The date was China's first atomic bomb 39th anniversary! The flight, at last, was quickly followed by the setup of a space cooperation agency which is claiming to provide space access to the poorest countries. China, of course, is stressing that its space technology is for a peaceful use only. As far as further space operations are concerned, China is planning a next manned flight in one to two years only, as China is believed to develop a space station, former Salyut and Mir-style. The primary aims of these USSR space stations were never clearly understood (for more, see at "Half a Century of Space Conquest"). Another aim of China is Moon, with an important, prestige mission scheduled in 2012. Following Chinese manned space flights also included a spacewalk

The Chinese space manned program, on the other hand, seems to owe a much to Russia, as Russia seems to have actively contributed to areas like astronauts training, or the developement of spacecraft. This bilateral cooperation seems bound to continue in the future, as the Chinese aim of space stations might well be linked too to Russian techniques and skills, or even aims

How Does a Chinese Manned Space Flight Work?

From varied data, some glimpses are available on how China is organizing its manned flights. The launch-rocket, which is of the type Long March 2 and the spacecraft are placed unto a mobile platform and transfered, along a 1,500 yards (1,500 meters)-long pathway, lasting more than one hour, to the launch pad. An escape and preparation tower is just following the same way, at barely some distance behind, which is a neat difference between the way, for example, NASA is using for the Space Shuttle. The launch rocket is 58,3 yards (58,3 meters)-tall -about the same height than the Space Shuttle- and is being prepared inside a tall building, which is similar to NASA famed 'Vehicle Assembly Building' (VAB). The transfer of the mobile platform and the tower occurs between 4 and 9 days before launch, as launch itself is scheduled possible during a five-day interval. A comprehensive, 3-hour long flight rehearsal is then performed between 3 and 8 days before the actual launch, involving people from all branches of the space project, including the launcher, or landing venue, for example. The 'green light' for launch -like the Chinese say- is given after that rehearsal proves successfull. The launch date, after that, is decided based upon weather considerations only. Following the rehearsal, a final check of the spacecraft, rocket and ground observation and control system is completed. The loading of the fuel into the launcher, one day before launch, is meaning that launch is irreversible as it's triggering countdown (which is another main difference with NASA techniques, where fuel load may be reverted, depending, for example, on last minute weather changes bringing to an impeached or delayed launch). The fuel load lasts 7 hours. The crew is meeting the press at the launch center on the day preceding the launch, following a press conference hold on the same day, by the 'mission's headquarters'. The crew enters the spacecraft 3 hours before launch, into the re-entry module, and checking the communication system with the ground control. A Chinese manned mission is monitored through ground monitoring stations (of them in Beijing and X'ian), tracking ships, and planes. China has a fleet of six 'Yuanwang' space tracking ships, which are able to reach into the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Those tracking ships, together with some 20 terrestrial survey stations, constitute the China's telemetry network responsible for space activities. The Space Flights Control Center (or 'Aerospace Flight Control Center') is to be found in Beijing

The Shenzhou spacecraft is mostly an evolution of the Soviet-Russian Soyouz, as it keeps being composed of three modules (the 'orbital', the 're-entry' and the 'propulsion and orientation' modules, respectively from front to behind). The Shenzhou are coming back Earth Soyuz-style as the astronauts are taking place in the return module. The orbital module is used too like where the spacewalks are taking place, as it may be left on the orbit for varied purposes once the mission over. At the difference of a Soyuz, the Chinese Shenzhou is featuring two additional solar arrays, which are located on the front, orbital module

For the return, astronauts boards the re-entry module and then separate it from the orbital module -or not, depending on whether the Chinese want to have the latter maintained on the orbit or not. Then the Shenzhou spaceship is firing its braking engines, which brakes the craft on the orbit and makes it begin its descent. The descent is a Soyuz-like one, with the re-entry module then separating from either the remaining instrumentation-propulsion module, or both that one and possibly the orbital module, and eventually reaching the denser layers of the Earth's atmosphere, where friction heats the cabin and prohibits further any radio communications. The craft then is braked by parachutes, which bring it to a soft landing in the plains of Inner Mongolia, China. A search and rescue team speeds to reach to the vessel as a medical staff monitoring the astronauts' health while they readapt to Earth's gravity. This re-adaptation, at the difference of a Soyuz flight occurs with the astronauts keeping seated in the re-entry module. During a mission featuring a spacewalk, like evidenced during the third manned Chinese mission in 2008, astronauts bound for the walk enter the orbital module, where they don their suits, as they depressurize and repressurize the cabin, exit and re-enter the orbital module through an additional airlock module

->More About the Coming Chinese Spaceflights
. By the summer of 2010 China had finished the first module of its forecasted space station. Changes will have to be made on a two-stage Long March 2F rocket that will carry the station's first 8.5 ton module into a set orbit by 2011. A Shenzhou 8 spacecraft will dock there then, with two more flights by 2012
. A second lunar probe should launch by October 2011 for a planned Moon landing in 2012
. A manned lunar mission is brewing for 2017

Chinese Space Program Generally

Since the first Chinese manmade satellite flew by April 1970, China had developped four satellite serie, namely, recoverable remote-sensing satellites, or the 'DFH (Dongfanghong),' telecommunications satellites, the 'FY (Fengyun),' the meteorological satellites, and the 'SJ (Shijian)' science and technological experiment satellites. The 'Long March' rocket launchers eventually reached 12 types of launching vehicles and the ability to take a share of the commercial space launches market. In terms of tracking and control, China's manned spaceflights have brought to the development of a integrated 'Telemetry Tracking and Command' (TT&C) comprising TT&C ground stations and ships as the founding of the Space Payload Application Center provided with the basic ability to support aerospace scientific experiments. Remote-sensing and telecommunications satellites account for about 71 percent of the total number of satellites developed and launched by China. Space cooperation with developing countries like Brazil is also a interest of Chinese space in terms of satellite completion, technology and components as China also values regional, Asia-Pacific region cooperation like with Thailand or Pakistan, Mongolia or even South Korea. China, generally, states that his space program aims to a peaceful use and the use to space resource to the benefit of mankind like a whole

for more on the Chinese space program generally, check at nonusp.htm#China

As far as the Chinese astronauts selection is concerned, the first of those involved into the first Chinese manned flights, were chosen from the first group of 14 Chinese astronauts which was selected in 1998 based on their physical and psychological conditions as well as their technical skills. They then followed an intensive training as the actual astronauts to participate into the missions were selected for a final, mission-oriented training. As both the first Chinese astronaut groups were all composed of airforce pilots, the third group by mid-2017 will also include engineers