China plans to launch a space station into orbit by 2020, China Daily reports.
The station will be made of three capsules — a core module and two modules for conducting experiments, with total weight of the station being 60 tons. China also plans to develop a cargo spaceship that will transport supplies to the station.
At 60 tons, China’s space station will be small compared to the International Space Station, which weighs 419 tons and is the only space station in orbit. Russian Space Station Mir, which was deorbited in 2001, weighed 137 tons. However, Pang Zhihao, a researcher and deputy editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine, Space International, said, “It’s only the world’s third multi-module space station, which usually demands much more complicated technology than a single-module space lab.”
The names and symbols for the space station will be selected by the public. People are invited to submit their suggestions now through July 25 either via www.cmse.gov.cn or an email to kongjianzhan@vip.qq.com. The results will be announced before the end of September.
China’s space program has a very busy schedule, with plans to launch the space module Tiangong-1 and the Shenzhou VIII spacecraft later this year and two more spacecrafts that will dock with Tiangong-1 next year. Image courtesy of China Daily
April 26th, 2011, 15:13
American Patriot
Re: China To Launch Its Own Space Station by 2020
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Set against the background of Earth, the International Space Station is seen from space shuttle Atlantis on Nov. 25, 2009. (NASA photo)
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China unveils plans to build space station
Updated: Tuesday, 26 Apr 2011, 10:27 AM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 26 Apr 2011, 10:27 AM EDT
(NewsCore) - BEIJING - Chinese authorities unveiled plans to build a space station and develop a cargo spaceship as part of its manned space program, the China Daily reported Tuesday.
The China Manned Space Engineering Office said it also wanted the public to suggest names for the 60-ton space station, due to be completed around 2020.
According to documents provided by the office, the space station would be composed of a core module and two others where experiments will be conducted. A cargo spaceship to transport supplies would also be developed.
"The 60-ton space station is rather small compared to the International Space Station (419 tons), and Russia's Mir Space Station (137 tons) which served between 1996 and 2001," Pang Zhihao, a researcher and deputy editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine, Space International, told the China Daily.
"But it is the world's third multi-module space station, which usually demands much more complicated technology than a single-module space lab," he said.
Pang said it was the first time the office had confirmed plans to build a cargo spaceship, which is vital for long-term space missions.
Director of the Office, Wang Wenbao, called for submissions from the public on a name for the new spacecraft that carried a "resounding and encouraging" name, the China Daily said.
"We now feel that the public should be involved in the names and symbols as this major project will enhance national prestige, and strengthen the national sense of cohesion and pride," Wang said.
China is now in the second phase of its manned space program, with two spacecraft to be launched later this year.
China sending its first female astronaut to temporary space base
Published June 15, 2012
Associated Press
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June 12, 2012: Chinese astronauts in their space suit from left., Liu Yang, Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang, wave from behind a glass enclosure at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu province. China will send its first woman into space Saturday along with two other astronauts to work on a temporary space station for about a week. (AP Photo)
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June 15, 2012: Chinese astronaut Jing Haipeng, center, waves as he attends a meet the press event from behind a glass enclosure next to Liu Yang, the China's first woman astronaut, center left, and Liu Wang, center right, at the Jiuquan satellite launch center near Jiuquan in western China's Gansu province. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
JIUQUAN, China – China will send its first woman and two other astronauts into space Saturday to work on a temporary space station for about a week, in a key step toward becoming only the third nation to set up a permanent base in orbit.
Liu Yang, a 34-year-old air force pilot, and two male colleagues will be launched Saturday aboard the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, which will dock with the bus-sized Tiangong 1 space module now orbiting at 343 kilometers (213 miles) above the Earth.
"Arranging for women astronauts to fly is not only a must for the development of human spaceflight, but also the expectation of the public," space program spokeswoman Wu Ping said. "This is a landmark event."
Two of the astronauts will live and work inside the module to test its life-support systems while the third will remain in the capsule to deal with any unexpected emergencies. Wu said the mission will last more than 10 days before the astronauts return to Earth in the capsule, landing on Western Chinese grasslands with the help of parachutes.
The rocket began fueling Friday at the Jiugquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi desert in northern China, Wu told reporters at the center. The launch is scheduled for 6:37 p.m. (1237 GMT) Saturday, she said.
'This mission is a combination of the old and the new and coordination between the male and female.'
- Chinese space program spokeswoman Wu Ping
Joining Liu, a major, is veteran astronaut and mission commander Jing Haipeng and newcomer Liu Wang, both air force senior colonels.
"You could say this mission is a combination of the old and the new and coordination between the male and female," Wu said.
Success in docking -- and in living and working aboard the Tiangong 1 -- would smooth the way for more ambitious projects, including the creation of a permanent space station and missions to the moon, and add to China's prestige in line with its growing economic prowess.
China is hoping to join the United States and Russia as the only countries to have sent independently maintained space stations into orbit. It already is in the exclusive three-nation club to have launched a spacecraft with astronauts on its own.
The mission demonstrates China's commitment to "long-term human spaceflight" and marks a test of "the technological capabilities requisite for a future permanent space station," said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on the Chinese space program at the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island.
Still, that is some years away. The Tiangong 1 is only a prototype, and the plan is to replace it with a permanent -- and bigger -- space station due for completion around 2020.
The permanent station will weigh about 60 tons, slightly smaller than NASA's Skylab of the 1970s and about one-sixth the size of the 16-nation International Space Station.
Analysts say China's exclusion from the ISS, largely on objections from the United States, was one of the key spurs for it to pursue an independent program 20 years ago, which reaches a high point with Saturday's launch.
The three astronauts will perform medicals tests on the effect of weightlessness on the human body, as well as other scientific and engineering tasks on Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, which was put into orbit in September.
Wu said the capsule would first dock by remote control, then later separate and dock again manually, to prepare the technology for a permanent space station.
"After we have realized both the auto and manual docking technology, we can completely master this technology," she said.
China first launched a man into space in 2003, followed by a two-man mission in 2005 and a three-man trip in 2008 that featured China's first space walk.
In November 2011, the unmanned Shenzhou 8 successfully docked with the Tiangong 1 by remote control -- twice to show the durability of the system.
While operating with limited resources, China's space program is a source of huge pride and enjoys top-level political and military backing. This has left it largely immune from the budgetary pressures affecting NASA, although China doesn't say what it spends on the program.
The selection of the first female astronaut is giving the program a publicity boost. State media have gushed about Liu, reporting she once successfully landed her plane after a bird strike disabled one of its engines.
Shortly after Wu's news conference, reporters were driven to a second building for a question and answer session with the astronauts, who were dressed in blue jump suits and seated behind a glass partition.
"We won't let you down. We will work together and successfully complete this mission," said Liu Yang, who like China's other female astronaut candidates is married and has a child, a requirement because of fears that exposure to space radiation could affect fertility.
Tiangong, or “heavenly palace,” blasted off atop a Long March 2F booster in 2011. “Chinese Gen. Chang Wanquan, commander of China’s manned space program, declared the launch a success from a control center in Beijing, drawing applause from assembled Chinese politicians and dignitaries,” Spaceflight Now reported. “What are they doing up there? Only they know for sure. But it’s obvious that Tiangong could be more than a scientific habitat.”
During spaceflights Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10, three-person Chinese crews lived aboard Tiangong’s small habitat for as long as 15 days at a stretch.
The astronauts practiced rendezvousing and docking with the station, observed the Earth, conducted medical experiments, and tested equipment. Astronaut Wang Yapingwowed students back home with her live-cast zero-G science demos. The manned missions delivered NASA-style civil prestige and outreach.
All Chinese astronauts are members of the armed forces. Two-time astronaut Nie Haishengreceived his promotion to general just prior to a Tiangong flight last year. The Chinese military provides much of the infrastructure and training for the civil manned space program. This is nothing unusual, as the histories of the American and Soviet space programs prove.
But China goes it alone in orbit in part because the country makes other spacefaring nations nervous. Beijing wasn’t invited to the International Space Station partly because Washington worried the Chinese might steal American technology. And like other space powers, China actively seeks military advantage in space.
The bus-sized Tiangong consists of two modules together providing astronauts with around 15 cubic meters of pressurized space. Pretty crowded for three people for two weeks, but lots of space for gear if you’re just dropping in every now and then.
Even without a crew, a small space station is a big bird with plenty of power and room. Tiangong would make a great orbital target for rendezvous-and-dock tests of China’s forthcoming cargo spacecraft.
