China to launch third manned space flight in September

[Nafees]

Source: 2 Sep 2008, 1142 hrs IST,AFP; China to launch third manned space flight in September-China-World-The Times of India


HONG KONG: China has brought forward the launch date of its third manned space flight to late September, a report said on Tuesday.

The launch of Shenzhou VII is now expected to take place between September 17 -- the end of the Beijing Paralympics and China's National Day on October 1, Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po said, citing unnamed sources.

The period offered the best launch window for Shenzhou VII, the source told the Chinese-language newspaper, without giving any more details.

The mission will blast off from China's Jiuquan launch centre in northwest Gansu province and land in northern Inner Mongolia province, Wen Wei Po said.

The launch schedule has been changed several times, with previous Chinese state media reports suggesting October or November launch.

Three "taikonauts" or astronauts will be on board the flight, with one of them conducting China's first space walk, China's official Xinhua news agency said in an earlier report, quoting a spokesman for the mission.

China successfully launched its first man, Yang Liwei, into orbit in 2003, making it the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to put a man in space.

It sent two more astronauts into orbit in 2005 on a five-day mission.

 

[kvLin]

that's typically Chinese, not saying much until things are done.

mimic diagram of space walk outside Shenzhou-7

mimic diagram of space walk trial

Mission of the space walk:
1 of 3 taikonauts is to conduct space walk for about 1 hour, during which he will release a small accompanying satellite.
and it is said that the steerage of Shenzhou-7 will be like piloting a fighter jet, which is more familiar to those taikonauts who used to work as air force pilots.

Preparation for Shenzhou-7:

a Communications relay satellite, Skylink1-01 was sent to its orbit in April 26 this year, in order to serve the Shenzhou-7 during its mission.

Two fleets of Yuanwang survey vessels,including 2 newly built Yuanwang-5 and Yuanwang-6, will be stationed respectively in pacific and indian ocean to fillful sea borne space instrumentation and command.

 

[kvLin]

China denied operation ahead of schedule

 

[Neo]

KvLin, what does the illutration say, its in Chinese .
I'm curious about the structure on the left which has the shape of a wind turbine.
What is it?

 

[kvLin]

nothing much but a trial underwater, for operations like walk, turning screws and facility installatoin outside spaceship.

the "wind turbine" is likely an inaccurate imaginary representation for obital capsule, which is drawn by media.

comparison with a model of the boat (obital capsule and re-entry module )

this is a real thing, Yuanwang-6, the newest survey vessel.

 

[shchinese]

Shenzhou VII this month would be the last manned flight before setting up a manned space lab.

The next two flights of the Shenzhou (8&9) would be unmanned and they would carrier two modules to dock together to be the first Chinese space lab. The third Shenzhou spaceship (shenzhou 10) is going to dock with the lab and send one or two guys there to operate the lab.

what the next step? an unmanned mission to the moon followed by a permanent space station (much bigger than the above mentioned space lab).

 

[tyagi]

shchinese is there any chance of china joining international space station.

 

[su-47]

congrats to chinese space agency for joining an elite club of a few nations.

hope india follows suit.

 

[Moin91]

China completes body of Shenzhou VII rocket

JIUQUAN PREFECTURE: China completes the body of its Shenzhou VII rocket ahead of its September 25 launch -- the beginning of the country's third manned space flight that will include its first space walk.

China on Friday (September 19) successfully completed it's Shenzhou VII rocket, state television reported, in preparation for its launch next Thursday (September 25).

Shenzhou VII will be China's third manned space flight that will include a space walk, Chinese media has said.

The Shenzhou VII spacecraft will lift off from the Jiuquan rocket launch site in northwest China with three astronauts and one of whom will venture outside the craft while in orbit.

The delicate process of completing the rocket's body, which took place at Jiuquan, involved lowering the command centre onto the existing body of the rocket at a height of around 80 metres, before attaching the rocket's tip, the report said.

Shenzhou's flights will be another highpoint for China in a year marked by displays of patriotic confidence, especially the Beijing Olympic Games which were held in August.

Chinese space officials said last year that the space walk would be broadcast live.

China in October 2003 became the third country to put a man in space with its own rocket, after the former Soviet Union and the United States. It sent two more astronauts on a five-day flight on its Shenzhou VI craft in October 2005.

Last year, China sent into orbit its first lunar probe and its longer term goals include establishing a space station and landing on the moon.

China's space programme has come a long way since late leader Mao Zedong, founder of Communist China in 1949, lamented that the country could not even launch a potato into space.

 

[cqjjccwj]

Are pleased to have been launched

 

[Moin91]

China’s third manned space mission blasts off



Friday, September 26, 2008
JIUQUAN, China: China’s third manned space mission blasted off from a remote desert site on Thursday on a trip expected to include the technologically ambitious nation’s first space walk.

The Shenzhou VII shot up into a chilly, inky black sky at the Jiuquan launch centre in the northwestern province of Gansuat exactly 9:10 pm (1310 GMT) carrying three astronauts in a take-off broadcast live on state television. It entered earth orbit about 20 minutes later, though will not reach its final orbit for a few more hours.

“The solar panel has unfolded and we feel well,” one of the astronauts said, according to the official Xinhua news agency. President Hu Jintao, speaking to the control room, called the launch “another great feat in the Chinese people’s scaling of the peak of world science and technology”. “The successful launch of the Shenzhou VII spacecraft signifies an initial victory for this manned spaceflight mission,” he added in remarks also carried on television.

It is China’s third manned space venture since October 2003, when it joined Russia and the United States as the only countries to have sent astronauts into space. The space walk is expected on Saturday. China sent two astronauts on a five-day flight on its Shenzhou VI craft in October 2005.

“The people of China will leave their first footprint in space — this footprint which cannot be seen will certainly bean advance that is hard to forget and will forever be remembered by the Chinese nation,” Xinhua said. Officials and state media have hailed the prospective space feats as national triumphs, crowning the successes of the Beijing Olympics and dramatising the country’s broader ambitions.

“This will be a very outward show of Chinese power,” said Kevin Pollpeter, an expert on China’s space programme at the Defence Group Inc in Washington. “The eventual goal is to build a space station.

 

[Sino-PakFriendship]

 

[Sino-PakFriendship]

 

[cqjjccwj]

After the said extravehicular Zhai Zhigang feel good greetings to the people of the world

 

[overseer]

Congratulation for a successful mission !! I am so glad and proud that China is able to do this.