China heads for the second piloted space mission

In October 2003, China became the third country to have independent means to propel people into orbit and made astronaut Yang Liwei to become the first person of his nation to travel into Earth orbit. In October 2005, China is all set to send its second piloted mission, Shenzhou 6, which will expand the flight parameters of the solo Shenzhou 5 mission. The near-at-hand space trek will reportedly be longer. Also, the crew will enter into the craft’s orbital module—a segment attached to the reentry portion of the vehicle. They will live and work for several days within the orbital module.

A commercial remote sensing spacecraft happened to catch Chinese space workers readying their second piloted space mission. The Ikonos satellite, operated by Space Imaging of Thornton, Colorado, took images of China’s human space flight launch complex on October 3 and October 9, with a shadow covering much of the rocket between two structures. The very tip of the rocket can be seen emerging from the shadow.

Launch of the Long March booster topped by the Shenzhou 6 is expected soon, according to several of China’s news services. The craft reportedly will carry two astronauts, with liftoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China’s Gansu Province. No official word as yet as to the names of the two space travelers that will conduct the Shenzhou 6 mission, but a Chinese newspaper identified the pilot as Fei Junlong and said he would be accompanied by Nie Haisheng. The report by the Chongqing Morning Post didn’t cite a source. The spacecraft will return to the main landing field in the central part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Chinese space officials have reportedly stated.

As far as confronting the cosmos is concerned, China can safely rely on Australia for rescue purpose if anything goes wrong. During their five-day mission the Shenzhou 6 crew will orbit on a path that will repeatedly take them over Australia. The federal authority responsible for co-ordinating a response to disasters, Emergency Management Australia, said yesterday it was ready to help if a problem forced the astronauts down over Australia. Before its first manned spaceflight, Shenzhou 5, in 2003, China requested Australia’s help if an emergency landing in the region was needed. The 21-hour flight by the single astronaut, Yang Liwei, went off without a hitch. He landed safely in Inner Mongolia.
A spokeswoman for the federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, said yesterday that China had advised that possible emergency landing sites had been identified in NSW, Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

The spacecraft is to be launched between 8:00am and 9:00am Wednesday morning Beijing time from a major space center in its northwestern Gansu Province, after a crucial ruling Communist Party meeting concludes in Beijing on Tuesday. Yang Liwei, who orbited the Earth 14 times, has already arrived at Jiuquan city. China¡¯s state-owned Central Television Station will telecast the launch live. Liu Yu, commander in chief of the rocket system, said the rocket for Shenzhou-VI has much improvement in reliability and safety compared with the one for Shenzhou-V. "We have confidence in the quality of this rocket. We have the conditions and capability to fulfill this mission," Liu said.

While the Shenzhou technology is based on 1950s and 1960s Soviet science, analysts said it would be wrong to shrug off China’s space program. "If it was easy, China wouldn’t be the third country with a manned program," said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on China’s space program at the US Naval War College. "The technology isn’t exactly breakthrough technology, but being able to put it all together and make it work, is sending a message that in fact China has integration skills, it has follow-through capability to build this kind of technology."
The Shenzhou spacecraft, based on the robust and thoroughly tested Soviet design for the Soyuz vessel, is basically the same this time as two years ago. It consists of three modules -- the orbital module where scientific experiments are carried out; the re-entry capsule where the astronauts will spend most of their time; and the service module, which contains fuel and air, solar panels and other technical gear.

Western experts expect that this second Shenzhou flight will further shakeout spacecraft systems, life support hardware, and also hone piloting skills. A subsequent mission could involve spacewalking with Chinese space officials noting that a space station complex is also being planned.

The other two countries to have entered human spaceflights were the former Soviet Union who launchedYuri Gagarin into Earth orbit in April 1961 followed by U.S. whose astronaut John Glenn orbited in February 1962