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At 2:15 p.m. on June 18, China’s Shenzhou-9 spacecraft completed its automated rendezvous and docking with the orbiting Tiangong-1 module, a prototype space lab launched in September last year. The live-televised docking procedure took eight minutes and is seen as a key step toward building a permanent space station.
After the docking, the three astronauts aboard the Shenzhou-9 entered the Tiangong-1, becoming the first Chinese to enter an orbiter in space. “They will carry out scientific experiments, technical tests and physical exercises in the Tiangong-1 for about 10 days,” said Wu Ping, a spokeswoman for China’s manned space program.
After completing the country’s first two robotic space dockings with the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft, the Tiangong-1 went into longterm operation in orbit 343 km above the Earth on November 17 last year.
“It has since completed tasks such as orbit maintenance, equipment inspection and toxic gas detection, and carried out related scientific experiments,” Wu said. “With this manned docking mission, China is expected to fully test its space rendezvous and docking technologies and check the space lab module’s ability to accommodate astronauts.”
The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft blasted off at 6:37 p.m. on June 16, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China’s Gansu Province, atop an upgraded Long March-2F carrier rocket.
“The launch of the Shenzhou-9 is a highly influential event that marks an important milestone for the development of China’s space technology,” said Cui Jijun, Director of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the creation of China’s manned space program, which was officially initiated on September 21, 1992. The launch of the Shenzhou-9 is the program’s 10th launch and the country’s fourth manned spaceflight.
The spacecraft is scheduled to spend 13 days in outer space. It is the first time China’s astronauts will stay in orbit for more than 10 days. The previous record was five days, set by the Shenzhou-6 crew in October 2005.
China aims to build a space station around 2020 based on the space rendezvous and docking technologies that are being tested. Several components will be sent into space separately before being assembled into a space station through a variety of docking procedures.
Besides the automated docking on June 18, the Shenzhou-9 and the Tiangong-1 will also carry out the country’s first manual space docking on June 24.
“In terms of their roles, astronauts are turning into ‘drivers’ rather than ‘passengers,’” said He Yu, chief commander of the Shenzhou-9 mission. “Should any emergency occur, the human brain is more reliable than the computer.”
Holding up half the sky
The Shenzhou-9 crew includes the 45-yearold commanding officer Jing Haipeng, China’s first two-time astronaut who entered space aboard the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft in September 2008, Liu Wang, a 43-year-old former air force pilot who has been an astronaut trainee since January 1998, and Liu Yang, 33, China’s first female astronaut.
China is the third country in the world to use its own technologies to send a woman into space, after the former Soviet Union and the United States.
“The participation of the first woman astronaut will help test the products and equipment that China develops for women in space, and evaluate its selection standards and training tactics for women astronauts,” Wu Said.
Born in central China’s Henan Province, Liu Yang is a People’s Liberation Army(PLA) major. She was once a PLA Air Force pilot with 1,680 hours of flying experience and deputy head of a military flight unit before being recruited as an astronaut trainee in May 2010.
After two years of training to shore up her astronautic skills and adaptability to the harsh environment of space, Liu excelled in testing and was selected in March this year as a candidate for the Shenzhou-9 manned space mission.
“I feel honored to fly into space on behalf of hundreds of millions of Chinese women,”Liu told the press on June 15. She is mandated to conduct medical experiments and other space tests during the mission.
Liu has been described by her two crewmates as “outgoing, sincere, well-versed and sensitive.”
Like most Chinese of her generation, Liu is the only child of her family. In her colleagues’ eyes, she is diligent and hardworking. She spent about two years on a space flight training program that usually takes three to five years to complete.
“Despite a late start for training as an astronaut, she is on the same page with us, which exceeds our expectations,” Jing said.
Jing was also impressed by the swiftness and decisiveness Liu displayed during training sessions, citing her calm manner in responding to simulated emergencies.
“Space exploration activities would be incomplete without the participation of female astronauts,” said Chen Shanguang, Director of the Astronaut Research and Training Center of China.
To date, more than 50 female astronauts from seven countries have gone into space. The first woman in space was former Soviet astronaut Valentina Tereshkova, who entered space on June 16, 1963. Women from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Japan and South Korea have also been to space. The longest space flight by a female astronaut in history lasted 188 days.
According to Wu, female astronauts have advantages of being thoughtful, meticulous and tolerant, which will help improve the crew’s working efficiency. “Female astronauts generally have better durability, psychological stability and ability to deal with loneliness,” she said.
Liu’s presence did bring a set of adjustments to the country’s space program.
“We developed a new series of spacesuits for female astronauts,” Li Tanqiu, Deputy Chief Designer for the Astronaut System Department of China’s Manned Space Program, told Xinhua News Agency.
Li said that the new suit fits well and will enable swift movements, especially of the fingers. Besides spacesuits, astronauts brought special underwear and sports suits.
In addition, two sets of physical exercise training suits had already been placed in the Tiangong-1. There is also a curtain installed in the Tiangong-1 to protect astronauts’ privacy when they are changing clothes, Li said.
Meanwhile, female and male astronauts will use separate toilets and sleep in two separate cabins in the 15-square-meter lab of the Tiangong-1, and women are allowed to take nontoxic and contamination-free cosmetics into space.
“Astronauts rely on good food to focus on work,” Chen said. For female astronauts, Chen’s fellow crew have introduced low-fat food and added more vegetables to the menu, which also features desserts, chocolate and food with blood-enriching effects.
For this 13-day mission, the spaceship is stocked with over 50 kinds of food on a menu that rotates every four days, Chen said.
“The involvement of female astronauts could showcase Chinese women’s good image and further promote the social influence of the country’s manned space program,” Wu said.
Manned docking
The manual docking is considered the most significant part of the Shenzhou-9 mission.
“This is a new technology providing new means for space docking to guarantee the success of future missions,” said Zhou Jianping, Chief Designer of China’s manned space program, before the launch of the Shenzhou-9.
Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on China’s space program at the U.S. Naval War College on Rhode Island, said it would be a step forward for China if the manual docking proved successful.
“China has already demonstrated docking technology robotics, so doing it manually this time is just another incremental step forward, with a robotic back-up for safety,” she told Xinhua.
According to both Chinese and foreign space experts, a successful docking remains a difficult procedure.
Precise control is needed to ensure a safe contact between two objects running at speeds between 7.9 km per second (kmps) and 11.2 kmps.
During the manual docking process, the main risks involve challenges to the optical sensors used for the docking of the craft.
But as observed by Pat Norris, Chairman of the British Royal Aeronautical Society Space Group, China has taken a prudent course of verifying new space technology in robotic flights before applying it to human space missions.
He referred to last November’s unmanned Shenzhou-8 mission to test docking technologies, as well as four unmanned missions that took place before the launch of the manned Shenzhou-5 spacecraft, which took the first Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei into space in October 2003.
To succeed in the manned docking mission, Chinese astronauts have been trained more than 1,000 times for every single move before they are commissioned for the program, compared with 900 to 1,000 times in Russia.
“We need to make astronauts’ operational moves habitual,” Chen said. “Manual control is the back-up measure for robotic control. It will be safer with human participation.”
The main body of the 8-ton Tiangong-1 is a short and thick cylinder, with a docking port on its front and rear ends. The two modules include an experiment module and a resource module. The experiment module is composed of an enclosed front coneshaped section, a cylindrical section and a rear coneshaped section. On the front end of the experiment module there are the docking mechanism and the measuring and communication equipment, which are used to support the rendezvous and docking with spaceships. The resource module supplies the power necessary for flight.
After Shenzhou-8 and Shenzhou-9, the Tiangong-1 will also conduct with rendezvous and docking tests with the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft within its 2-year designed life span.
Three-Step Space Plan
First: Launching an actual manned spacecraft. (The successful flight by the Shenzhou-5 and Shenzhou-6 spacecraft)
Second: Solving technical difficulties of docking two spaceships together. (The launch of the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft, the Tiangong-1 space lab module and the spacecraft Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10)
Third: Building Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3 space laboratories in 2013-16 to conduct even more advanced research.
Manned Space Program
September 21, 1992: China’s manned spaceflight program was officially approved.
November 20, 1999: The unmanned Shenzhou-1 spacecraft was launched for a test flight.
January 10, 2001: The unmanned Shenzhou-2 entered space, carrying animals.
March 25, 2002: The unmanned Shenzhou-3 spacecraft lifted off, carrying a test dummy.
December 30, 2002: The unmanned Shenzhou-4 spacecraft was launched, carrying a test dummy and several science experiments.
October 15, 2003: The Shenzhou-5 spacecraft blasted off into space with Yang Liwei, the first Chinese astronaut, on board.
October 12, 2005: The Shenzhou-6 spacecraft was launched, sending two astronauts, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, into space.
September 25, 2008: The Shenzhou-7 spaceflight mission sent Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng into space. Zhai completed China’s first space walk on September 27, 2008.
September 29, 2011: China’s first unmanned space lab module, the Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1, was launched.
November 1, 2011: The unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft was launched. Two days later, it successfully docked with the Tiangong-1.
June 16, 2012: The manned Shenzhou-9 spacecraft blasted off and made a successful automated docking with the Tiangong-1 two days later.
After the docking, the three astronauts aboard the Shenzhou-9 entered the Tiangong-1, becoming the first Chinese to enter an orbiter in space. “They will carry out scientific experiments, technical tests and physical exercises in the Tiangong-1 for about 10 days,” said Wu Ping, a spokeswoman for China’s manned space program.
After completing the country’s first two robotic space dockings with the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft, the Tiangong-1 went into longterm operation in orbit 343 km above the Earth on November 17 last year.
“It has since completed tasks such as orbit maintenance, equipment inspection and toxic gas detection, and carried out related scientific experiments,” Wu said. “With this manned docking mission, China is expected to fully test its space rendezvous and docking technologies and check the space lab module’s ability to accommodate astronauts.”
The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft blasted off at 6:37 p.m. on June 16, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China’s Gansu Province, atop an upgraded Long March-2F carrier rocket.
“The launch of the Shenzhou-9 is a highly influential event that marks an important milestone for the development of China’s space technology,” said Cui Jijun, Director of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the creation of China’s manned space program, which was officially initiated on September 21, 1992. The launch of the Shenzhou-9 is the program’s 10th launch and the country’s fourth manned spaceflight.
The spacecraft is scheduled to spend 13 days in outer space. It is the first time China’s astronauts will stay in orbit for more than 10 days. The previous record was five days, set by the Shenzhou-6 crew in October 2005.
China aims to build a space station around 2020 based on the space rendezvous and docking technologies that are being tested. Several components will be sent into space separately before being assembled into a space station through a variety of docking procedures.
Besides the automated docking on June 18, the Shenzhou-9 and the Tiangong-1 will also carry out the country’s first manual space docking on June 24.
“In terms of their roles, astronauts are turning into ‘drivers’ rather than ‘passengers,’” said He Yu, chief commander of the Shenzhou-9 mission. “Should any emergency occur, the human brain is more reliable than the computer.”
Holding up half the sky
The Shenzhou-9 crew includes the 45-yearold commanding officer Jing Haipeng, China’s first two-time astronaut who entered space aboard the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft in September 2008, Liu Wang, a 43-year-old former air force pilot who has been an astronaut trainee since January 1998, and Liu Yang, 33, China’s first female astronaut.
China is the third country in the world to use its own technologies to send a woman into space, after the former Soviet Union and the United States.
“The participation of the first woman astronaut will help test the products and equipment that China develops for women in space, and evaluate its selection standards and training tactics for women astronauts,” Wu Said.
Born in central China’s Henan Province, Liu Yang is a People’s Liberation Army(PLA) major. She was once a PLA Air Force pilot with 1,680 hours of flying experience and deputy head of a military flight unit before being recruited as an astronaut trainee in May 2010.
After two years of training to shore up her astronautic skills and adaptability to the harsh environment of space, Liu excelled in testing and was selected in March this year as a candidate for the Shenzhou-9 manned space mission.
“I feel honored to fly into space on behalf of hundreds of millions of Chinese women,”Liu told the press on June 15. She is mandated to conduct medical experiments and other space tests during the mission.
Liu has been described by her two crewmates as “outgoing, sincere, well-versed and sensitive.”
Like most Chinese of her generation, Liu is the only child of her family. In her colleagues’ eyes, she is diligent and hardworking. She spent about two years on a space flight training program that usually takes three to five years to complete.
“Despite a late start for training as an astronaut, she is on the same page with us, which exceeds our expectations,” Jing said.
Jing was also impressed by the swiftness and decisiveness Liu displayed during training sessions, citing her calm manner in responding to simulated emergencies.
“Space exploration activities would be incomplete without the participation of female astronauts,” said Chen Shanguang, Director of the Astronaut Research and Training Center of China.
To date, more than 50 female astronauts from seven countries have gone into space. The first woman in space was former Soviet astronaut Valentina Tereshkova, who entered space on June 16, 1963. Women from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Japan and South Korea have also been to space. The longest space flight by a female astronaut in history lasted 188 days.
According to Wu, female astronauts have advantages of being thoughtful, meticulous and tolerant, which will help improve the crew’s working efficiency. “Female astronauts generally have better durability, psychological stability and ability to deal with loneliness,” she said.
Liu’s presence did bring a set of adjustments to the country’s space program.
“We developed a new series of spacesuits for female astronauts,” Li Tanqiu, Deputy Chief Designer for the Astronaut System Department of China’s Manned Space Program, told Xinhua News Agency.
Li said that the new suit fits well and will enable swift movements, especially of the fingers. Besides spacesuits, astronauts brought special underwear and sports suits.
In addition, two sets of physical exercise training suits had already been placed in the Tiangong-1. There is also a curtain installed in the Tiangong-1 to protect astronauts’ privacy when they are changing clothes, Li said.
Meanwhile, female and male astronauts will use separate toilets and sleep in two separate cabins in the 15-square-meter lab of the Tiangong-1, and women are allowed to take nontoxic and contamination-free cosmetics into space.
“Astronauts rely on good food to focus on work,” Chen said. For female astronauts, Chen’s fellow crew have introduced low-fat food and added more vegetables to the menu, which also features desserts, chocolate and food with blood-enriching effects.
For this 13-day mission, the spaceship is stocked with over 50 kinds of food on a menu that rotates every four days, Chen said.
“The involvement of female astronauts could showcase Chinese women’s good image and further promote the social influence of the country’s manned space program,” Wu said.
Manned docking
The manual docking is considered the most significant part of the Shenzhou-9 mission.
“This is a new technology providing new means for space docking to guarantee the success of future missions,” said Zhou Jianping, Chief Designer of China’s manned space program, before the launch of the Shenzhou-9.
Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on China’s space program at the U.S. Naval War College on Rhode Island, said it would be a step forward for China if the manual docking proved successful.
“China has already demonstrated docking technology robotics, so doing it manually this time is just another incremental step forward, with a robotic back-up for safety,” she told Xinhua.
According to both Chinese and foreign space experts, a successful docking remains a difficult procedure.
Precise control is needed to ensure a safe contact between two objects running at speeds between 7.9 km per second (kmps) and 11.2 kmps.
During the manual docking process, the main risks involve challenges to the optical sensors used for the docking of the craft.
But as observed by Pat Norris, Chairman of the British Royal Aeronautical Society Space Group, China has taken a prudent course of verifying new space technology in robotic flights before applying it to human space missions.
He referred to last November’s unmanned Shenzhou-8 mission to test docking technologies, as well as four unmanned missions that took place before the launch of the manned Shenzhou-5 spacecraft, which took the first Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei into space in October 2003.
To succeed in the manned docking mission, Chinese astronauts have been trained more than 1,000 times for every single move before they are commissioned for the program, compared with 900 to 1,000 times in Russia.
“We need to make astronauts’ operational moves habitual,” Chen said. “Manual control is the back-up measure for robotic control. It will be safer with human participation.”
The main body of the 8-ton Tiangong-1 is a short and thick cylinder, with a docking port on its front and rear ends. The two modules include an experiment module and a resource module. The experiment module is composed of an enclosed front coneshaped section, a cylindrical section and a rear coneshaped section. On the front end of the experiment module there are the docking mechanism and the measuring and communication equipment, which are used to support the rendezvous and docking with spaceships. The resource module supplies the power necessary for flight.
After Shenzhou-8 and Shenzhou-9, the Tiangong-1 will also conduct with rendezvous and docking tests with the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft within its 2-year designed life span.
Three-Step Space Plan
First: Launching an actual manned spacecraft. (The successful flight by the Shenzhou-5 and Shenzhou-6 spacecraft)
Second: Solving technical difficulties of docking two spaceships together. (The launch of the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft, the Tiangong-1 space lab module and the spacecraft Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10)
Third: Building Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3 space laboratories in 2013-16 to conduct even more advanced research.
Manned Space Program
September 21, 1992: China’s manned spaceflight program was officially approved.
November 20, 1999: The unmanned Shenzhou-1 spacecraft was launched for a test flight.
January 10, 2001: The unmanned Shenzhou-2 entered space, carrying animals.
March 25, 2002: The unmanned Shenzhou-3 spacecraft lifted off, carrying a test dummy.
December 30, 2002: The unmanned Shenzhou-4 spacecraft was launched, carrying a test dummy and several science experiments.
October 15, 2003: The Shenzhou-5 spacecraft blasted off into space with Yang Liwei, the first Chinese astronaut, on board.
October 12, 2005: The Shenzhou-6 spacecraft was launched, sending two astronauts, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, into space.
September 25, 2008: The Shenzhou-7 spaceflight mission sent Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng into space. Zhai completed China’s first space walk on September 27, 2008.
September 29, 2011: China’s first unmanned space lab module, the Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1, was launched.
November 1, 2011: The unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft was launched. Two days later, it successfully docked with the Tiangong-1.
June 16, 2012: The manned Shenzhou-9 spacecraft blasted off and made a successful automated docking with the Tiangong-1 two days later.