China to launch astronauts to orbiting craft this year
By Yang Jian |
February 18, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
China will send three astronauts into space earlier than expected - between June and August - to dock with and live inside an experimental orbiting module launched last year, a spokesman for China's manned space program said yesterday.
The Chinese astronauts, also known as taikonauts, will fly aboard the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft and will manually dock with the Tiangong-1, a module of the country's planned space station, and conduct scientific experiments, the spokesman said.
"The astronauts may stay in space for more than 10 days, which will be unprecedented in the history of China's space exploration," Li Wei, deputy designer for spacecraft system with the China Aerospace and Technology Corporation, said earlier.
Previous plans had called for sending the astronauts into the 8.5-ton Tiangong-1, or "Heavenly Palace," during the Shenzhou-10 mission next year after another round of unmanned docking experiments with the Shenzhou-9.
All the systems on Tiangong-1 orbiting the Earth are in perfect condition and ready to receive the astronauts, according to Zhou Jianliang, deputy chief engineer of the China Manned Space Engineering Office.
The selected astronauts are receiving months of training, including spending about two weeks in the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft, to get familiar with the atmosphere and operational system, said Li.
Fourteen candidates have been picked from among fighter pilots as the first batch of candidates while the second batch has also been selected, he said. Included are two female astronauts.
The astronauts must be 25 to 35 years old, weigh 55 to 70 kilograms and be 1.60 to 1.72 meters tall, Wu Bin, director of the astronaut training office, said earlier.
Some small animals and plant seeds will also be taken aboard the Shenzhou-9 for experiments on the conditions in zero gravity and radiation, according to Zhu Yilin, a researcher on the project from the Chinese Space Technology Institute.
The target module Tiangong-1 blasted off on September 29 last year and is awaiting the dockings of Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10.
China completed its first such space rendezvous last year when the unmanned Shenzhou-8 docked with the Tiangong-1 by remote control. That was considered a breakthrough since early US astronauts did so manually.
China plans to complete a manned space station around 2020 to replace Tiangong-1. After the Tiangong-1, China will launch Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3, probably both manned, to complete the space station, said Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's manned space program.
About 60 tons, the Chinese station will be considerably smaller than the 16-nation International Space Station. China also plans to build a space infrastructure composed of Earth-observation satellites, communications satellites, and navigation and positioning satellites.
China's space program has made steady progress since a 2003 launch that made it the third nation to put a man in space.
The Chinese astronauts, also known as taikonauts, will fly aboard the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft and will manually dock with the Tiangong-1, a module of the country's planned space station, and conduct scientific experiments, the spokesman said.
"The astronauts may stay in space for more than 10 days, which will be unprecedented in the history of China's space exploration," Li Wei, deputy designer for spacecraft system with the China Aerospace and Technology Corporation, said earlier.
Previous plans had called for sending the astronauts into the 8.5-ton Tiangong-1, or "Heavenly Palace," during the Shenzhou-10 mission next year after another round of unmanned docking experiments with the Shenzhou-9.
All the systems on Tiangong-1 orbiting the Earth are in perfect condition and ready to receive the astronauts, according to Zhou Jianliang, deputy chief engineer of the China Manned Space Engineering Office.
The selected astronauts are receiving months of training, including spending about two weeks in the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft, to get familiar with the atmosphere and operational system, said Li.
Fourteen candidates have been picked from among fighter pilots as the first batch of candidates while the second batch has also been selected, he said. Included are two female astronauts.
The astronauts must be 25 to 35 years old, weigh 55 to 70 kilograms and be 1.60 to 1.72 meters tall, Wu Bin, director of the astronaut training office, said earlier.
Some small animals and plant seeds will also be taken aboard the Shenzhou-9 for experiments on the conditions in zero gravity and radiation, according to Zhu Yilin, a researcher on the project from the Chinese Space Technology Institute.
The target module Tiangong-1 blasted off on September 29 last year and is awaiting the dockings of Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10.
China completed its first such space rendezvous last year when the unmanned Shenzhou-8 docked with the Tiangong-1 by remote control. That was considered a breakthrough since early US astronauts did so manually.
China plans to complete a manned space station around 2020 to replace Tiangong-1. After the Tiangong-1, China will launch Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3, probably both manned, to complete the space station, said Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's manned space program.
About 60 tons, the Chinese station will be considerably smaller than the 16-nation International Space Station. China also plans to build a space infrastructure composed of Earth-observation satellites, communications satellites, and navigation and positioning satellites.
China's space program has made steady progress since a 2003 launch that made it the third nation to put a man in space.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
