September 22, 2003. Copyright 2002. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

China plans manned space mission for October

LONDON, September 22, Graphic News: China plans to launch its first manned space mission in October, in a quest to become only the third nation to send a human into orbit. 

ÒThe current plan is that Shenzhou 5 -- Divine Vessel 5 -- will be launched in October but it is very hard to say the exact date,Ó an official at the Beijing-based China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), which develops the launchers and spacecraft, told the AFP news agency.

The Chinese manned-space programme, set up by Communist Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin in 1992, is run by the military and is shrouded in official secrecy. Analysts believe the Shenzhou spacecraft is an enlarged copy of the Soviet-era workhorse -- the Soyuz -- which is currently the only craft supplying the International Space Station.

On November 20, 1999, some 42 years after the former Soviet Union became the first nation to go into space, China launched its first Shenzhou.

Earlier this year the China Daily reported that 14 former fighter pilots, each with more than 1,000 hours flying experience, had been in training as Òyuhangyuans,Ó astronauts, Òfor years.Ó Two were sent to RussiaÕs Star City Space Centre for training and all spent a week in April training in a recently returned unmanned Shenzhou spacecraft.

In recent years, ChinaÕs manned space programme has taken on mammoth proportions, with CASC employing about 230,000 people. One third are technicians, engineers, and researchers and 40,000 are professors and senior engineers, according to the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California. It is reported that 19 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion) has so far been spent on the attempt to send a man into space.

To date, China has successfully launched four unmanned space missions to test the hardware for the manned flight. The last, Shenzhou 4, touched-down in Inner Mongolia on January 5 after a 162-hour flight.

The manned-Shenzhou 5 (SZ-5) launch is believed to be slated for the second week in October, following week-long celebrations of ChinaÕs National Day on October 1.

The SZ-5 capsule and its Changzheng-2F -- Long March-2F -- launcher arrived at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre (JSLC) in the northwestern Gansu Province in August. Since then they have been integrated and tested in the massive Vertical Assembly Building.

The 7.8-tonne (7,800kg) Shenzhou spacecraft has three sections: an Orbital Module, a Descent Module, and a Propulsion Module. The forward section, the Orbital Module, is where yuhangyuans live and work in space, as well as a payload storage area. The module -- which carries science experiments -- is intended to remain in orbit after the Descent Module returns to Earth. Over time multiple modules may be connected to build a space station.

The Xinhua News Agency has reported Zhang Qingwei, president of CASC, as saying that China is pushing forward in spaceship docking, space labs, and deep space exploration. Zhang said that CASC is designing a new family of heavy-lift launch vehicles which could be flying within two years. These could launch a small orbital laboratory which Chinese crews could visit. China has also made clear it wants to mount an unmanned mission to the Moon. 
/ENDS

Sources: Aviation Week and Space Technology, SpaceDaily.com