Shenzhou (spacecraft)

Shenzhou (Chinese Shenzhou神舟or for " magic ship " or " gods ship" ) is the name for the first manned Chinese spacecraft and the underlying program of the China National Space Administration.

Although since the 1950s, China developed launchers, the field of manned space a long time confined to the creation of plans. Only with the Project 921-1 China began in 1992 with the implementation of the theory into practice.

Shenzhou is very similar to the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. However, it is larger in almost all dimensions and can transport instead of three, up to four people.

The spacecraft is comprised of three modules, the module orbital than the front part, the return capsule as medium and the service module and the rear part. The total mass is about 7.8 tons. The total length is 8.65 meters.

The orbital module can operate for about half a year in orbit after separation from the return capsule. On the front side of the module either as a platform or instrument panel, a coupling system can be installed. Two orbital modules could therefore also form a small space station (Project 921-2 ).

On 19 November 1999 Shenzhou started from a first unmanned test flight of the CZ -2F from the Chinese Jiuquan spaceport.

With the successful launch of Shenzhou 5 was China, Russia and the U.S., the third nation, which maintained its own infrastructure for a manned space flight. With the mission Shenzhou 6 a long time two Chinese astronauts talking in October 2005 for the first time on in space.

Previous missions

  • Shenzhou 1 - November 19, 1999 - First Flight
  • Shenzhou 2 - January 9, 2001 - " in-orbit " maneuver, test the life support systems on laboratory animals
  • Shenzhou 3 - March 25, 2002 - Flight with a test dummy
  • Shenzhou 4 - December 29, 2002 - test of all required subsystems
  • Shenzhou 5 - October 15, 2003 - First manned flight with an taikonauts
  • Shenzhou 6 - 12 October 2005 - Manned flight with two taikonauts
  • Shenzhou 7 - 25 September 2008 - Manned flight with spacewalk
  • Shenzhou 8 - 1st November 2011 - testing of an unmanned docking maneuver with Tiangong 1
  • Shenzhou 9 - June 16, 2012 - Trial of a manned docking maneuver with Tiangong 1
  • Shenzhou 10 - June 11, 2013 - Completion of the first scientific experiments on board Tiangong 1

Planned missions

There are no details of other missions are known.

Shenzhou, Hebei
726920
de