Shenzhou 6

Shenzhou 6 was the second manned spaceflight of the People's Republic of China. He began on 12 October 2005. For the mission, a spacecraft Shenzhou series was used, which Haisheng (Pilot) promoted the two taikonauts Fei Junlong ( commander) and never in an Earth orbit, where they were staying for 115 hours and 32 minutes.

Mission structure and mission objectives

Mission objectives were to test lighter spacesuits, scientific experiments, the initial transition in the orbital module and the testing of everyday things of human necessities such as a new toilet. The height of the Earth's orbit varies between 250 and 350 kilometers, the orbital inclination was 42.4 °.

Shenzhou 6 consisted of a return module and an orbital module. While the return module after five days returned back to earth after the end of the primary mission, the orbital module remained in the orbit to perform further tests and experiments. The results will feed into the development and in the design of the planned Chinese space station will be built between 2009 and 2012.

The selection of taikonauts

The taikonauts were selected from a pool of which trained five pairs for the actual flight. One months were selected three pairs before the start of them. It was not until just before the start, the authorities gave the names of the two taikonauts known.

The launcher

The Long March 2F carrier rocket was equipped with a fire safety system on the launch tower. A video camera transferred the separation of rocket stages and the Shenzhou spacecraft.

The cost

Tang Xianming, director of engineering for the national manned space flight, announced at a press conference on 17 October 2005 at the cost of the flight of Shenzhou 6 with 111 million U.S. dollars. They were coated by the central government.

The end of the manned part of the mission

October 12 - 1st Mission Day

Accompanied by adverse weather conditions with snowfall until shortly before the start, the mission launched on 12 October 2005 by 1 clock UTC from the Jiuquan space center. 21 minutes after lift-off occurred " Shenzhou 6" in an Earth orbit. Nine hours after the start moved Fei Junlong of the return capsule in the orbit module. Never Haisheng remained meanwhile in the return capsule and photographed the orbital capsule. At 21:30 local time clock saying the two taikonauts for seven minutes with their families.

October 13 - 2nd Mission Day

All planned experiments and emergency drills were carried out as intended. The internal door of the spaceship was opened and closed again, the taikonauts alternated between the orbital module and the return module, tested their spacesuits and tested the system for the extraction of condensate. During the exercises extreme events were simulated to examine the effects of the responses to the spaceship. The results showed that Shenzhou 6 during all assumed faults retained its functionality. The body functions of both taikonauts showed normal values ​​, the systems of the spacecraft passed all tests and functioned without problems.

On the ground, during which an exercise to the planned landing site was held in which four helicopter for a search and rescue operation at night simulated. When flying over the island of Taiwan Fei Junlong was photographed. The official Chinese media took the opportunity to underline the territorial claim of the People's Republic on Taiwan, and spoke of photos from the "Fatherland".

October 14 - 3rd Mission Day

On the third day of the Shenzhou 6 mission first small course corrections were made after the start in the morning at 5:56 clock local time. The "Beijing Aerospace Control Center" in Beijing emphasized the normality of the process in a mission of this kind, the spacecraft was on the scheduled outstanding amount at a rate of about 7.8 kilometers per second ( 28,000 km / h). The corrections began during the 30th orbit. The atmospheric resistance in orbit by the very thin atmosphere leads to a slowing of the space ship and reducing the orbit. During maintenance, the two taikonauts on board watching the price correction on their monitors in the spaceship.

October 15 - 4th Mission Day

On the fourth Mission Day, Saturday, October 15, a series of orbital and ergonomic experiments was carried out, which gave me data for the space sciences. One of the main tasks was to carry out scientific tests in the orbital module and the return module.

During the following days the taikonauts led by modifications to the space suits in order to be used for various purposes later. This was supplemented by ergonomic testing of equipment.

By means of the change between the orbital and the return module and closing the doors of the return module examined the spaceman changes in the status in the respective modules, the effects and legalities of movements of the astronauts and the psychological impact and schemes. All movements of the astronauts and the relevant vibrations were recorded in order to later correct them using these data, the trajectory of the spacecraft can. The taikonauts carried out tests in the field of cell research and spatial ability by humans. These served to further investigations of the effects of weightlessness on humans and the development of methods to prevent or mitigate these.

October 16 - 5th mission day

On the fifth mission day, the ground control center announced the planned landing date for Monday morning. The two taikonauts Fei and Nie Haisheng Junlong once again attached to her space suit and closed the door of the re-entry capsule. The experiments were planned for the mission completed. A Chinese expert reported that the development of the national manned space program since its launch on Wednesday valuable technical data could be collected. Other experts said that the tests of the emergency systems of the spaceship, the physical parameters of the life support systems and the functional testing of various pieces of equipment have produced satisfactory results.

Landing after 115 hours and 32 minutes

The return module sat almost five hours after leaving its orbit on the morning of October 17, 2005 at 20:32 UTC clock in the intended main landing area in the central Inner Mongolia. The landing site was as planned in the region Siziwang Banner in north China. There, all preparations had been made to enable a safe landing. For the salvage operations were both at the intended landing site as well as on the replacement landing five teams ready: The Land salvage team, which maritime salvage team, a team for surveillance of telecommunications, a team for medical examination and a security team. The primary object of the search and rescue team was to locate the module return the sky to rescue the astronauts out of the capsule and retrieve the capsule as soon as possible. The search and rescue teams were in the Shenzhou 6 mission before some difficult tasks, there were therefore previously developed a number of scenarios. As predicted, there was no rain, good visibility and little wind. Fei Long Jung got out first from the capsule, followed him Haisheng Nie. Both said on demand of journalists, if they were in good health.

Mission during the orbital module

Orbital module remaining in the orbit. The control center lit around the 20th of October 2005, the engines of the spacecraft twice, so that a maximum of 355 kilometers was reached. Over the next few months, several remote-controlled experiments were performed. On April 15, 2006, this phase has been completed. The module is still in orbit until it is burning up in some years in the earth's atmosphere.