China the Beautiful

chinapage · Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2003 5:56 pm Post subject: Manned Space Flight Shenzhou

By all accounts, the first manned space flight will take place next month, in October 2003.

The yuhanyuan will take off on Shenzhou V, which will be boasted into space on the Zhangzheng rocket from the launch site at Jiuquan.

Time to learn a few new Chinese terminology. Laughing

chinapage · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 9:00 pm Post subject: Maned Flight soon

The first Chinese astronaut to go up on a space flight is expected any day now.

The space craft will take off from a site called
Jiu Quan Space Center. See the map

http://www.chinapage.com/space/jiuquan.html

The space center is in the Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia. However, it is
called the Jiu Quan, because Jiu Quan is the nearest town, and is
located in Gansu Province.

It is not far from the Western end of the Great Wall.

chinapage · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 7:36 pm Post subject:

Indications are that China will launch its first manned flight on October 15, 2003.

Here are two spy photos taken by the Americans.

BOULDER, Colorado - A U.S.-built commercial satellite has used its high-power camera to focus on China's sprawling Jiuquan Space Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province, from where the country plans to make its first human foray into space.

Zooming hundreds of miles above the Chinese rocket complex, the Ikonos satellite -- operated by Space Imaging Inc. of Thornton, Colorado -- snapped the impressive photo on Sept. 29 as the satellite moved from north-to-south over China.

http://www.chinapage.com/space/photo21.jpg

http://www.chinapage.com/space/photo22.jpg

chinapage · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 12:17 pm Post subject:

According to today's News reports, the space flight will take place on October 15,2003.

It will be broadcast live on Chinese TV Channel 4 and 9.

The 8-ton spacecraft Shenzhen 5 will be launched from Jiuquan Center which is about 1440 miles (900 Km) west of Beijing.

It is said that the spacecraft will circle around the earth 14 times before coming down to earth.

Many detail reports about the space flight are collected at:

http://www.chinapage.com/space/space.html

of this web site.

Ming

chinapage · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2003 11:03 am Post subject:

It is official!

China is scheduled to launch its first manned spacecraft at an appropriate time between Oct. 15 and Oct. 17, a leading official in charge of the country's manned spaceflight program announced on Friday.

The official said that the launching of "Shenzhou" V will be undertaken by the Long March II F Rocket at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu Province. After completing the planned flight, the spacecraft will land at the predetermined region.

chinapage · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2003 4:55 pm Post subject:

At 10:15 am October 11, 2003, the spacecraft Shenzhou sitting on top of the CF Rocket slowly rolled out of the Tall Building and moved onto the launching pad.

Tens of thousands of poeple watched.

Launching is said to take place on October 15.

Shenzhou spacecraft will circle the earth 15 times before returning to earth.

http://www.chinapage.com/space/space.html

chinapage · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2003 10:28 am Post subject:

You could be watching the launching in person!

THE FIRST CRACK in this Great Wall of Secrecy appeared last week. It came from, of all places, a tourist agency. Chinese authorities informed Inner Mongolia’s Alashan Tourist Company, which has for years organized launchpad tours for Chinese citizens, that it could take tourists to watch the next spacecraft, the Shenzhou V, ferry the first Chinese astronaut into space. “We’re so excited,” says manager Yang Chengzhang. “The tourists will be only a few hundred meters away from the Shenzhou V site on launch day.” In the process, the tentative launch date—Oct. 15—slipped into the public domain.
The unprecedented advance notice is indicative of the excitement and confidence the program is generating among China’s leadership and its citizens. China is now on the verge of joining that elite club of nations—currently including only Russia and the United States—that have mustered the technology and the political will to send their citizens into outer space. The achievement is rich in symbolic value. If the mission succeeds, China’s leaders are hoping that it will cement Beijing’s stature as a regional superpower—at the expense of Japan and India, which also have ambitions in space. It would also stand in marked contrast to the stumbling efforts of NASA and the International Space Station, which are plagued by the shuttle disaster and budget crises.

Newsweek International Oct. 6 Issue

• International Editions Front
• Cover Story: Up, Up and Away
• World View: Japan Is Back (No, Really!)
• Letter From America: Stories from the Bar Stool
• International Periscope & Perspectives
• International Mail Call
• The Last Word: Celso Amorim

Over the next few decades, a successful manned space program could also begin to yield practical benefits: mainly advances in military technology, such as satellite intelligence gathering and missile defense. China’s manned space efforts “almost certainly will contribute to improved military space systems in the 2010-2020 time frame,” said a U.S. military report last July. It went on to quote a Chinese naval captain, Shen Zhongchang: “The mastery of outer space will be a requisite for military victory.”
The lead-up to Shenzhou V isn’t all such bluster and confidence, however; there’s also plenty of ambivalence. There are a thousand ways that a space program—or this week’s launch, for that matter—can go wrong. A few spectacular satellite launch failures in the ’90s killed an unknown number of villagers near the Jiuquan launch base. Last Wednesday officials of government-run China Central Television leaked that they would broadcast this week’s launch live. The next day, however, after much infighting, CCTV abruptly canceled the live broadcast “on instructions from the military,” a CCTV source told NEWSWEEK.
Compared with the four unmanned launches in the past, which sent up flora and fauna and scientific equipment, this time the nation is awash in information. But despite official confirmation late last week of the impending launch, much about the mission remains shrouded in mystery. Shenzhou V is likely to carry a single “taikonaut” (from the Mandarin Chinese word taikong, or “space”) for 21 hours, which is time enough to make 14 orbits. But authorities wouldn’t say which lucky fighter jock has been picked to become China’s first man in space.
State-run Web sites, including one for the party mouthpiece People’s Daily, have issued reams of information on the current batch of taikonauts—among 2,000 applicants, 14 were chosen to receive advanced training and three were picked to prepare to fly on Shenzhou V. But which three? Chen Lan, a Shanghai software engineer and amateur space buff who’s garnered a reputation over the years as a sponge for information about China’s space program, thinks he knows. Chen suggests that one of the country’s two most experienced trainees—Li Qinglong and Wu Jie, both of whom had trained in Russia’s Star City—will get the nod.
Officials seem to be more interested in sowing propaganda, than in publicly confirming the names. Rocketry Department head Xie Guangxuan, seeking to rebut the widely held notion that Shenzhou V is derivative of Russia’s Soyuz technology, maintains that China has adapted the technology extensively. “China’s space technology has been created by China itself,” he’s quoted as saying on a popular Web site. Even China’s space food, according to one Web site, “will be tastier than Western food: kung pao chicken and shredded pork with garlic sauce.” After the meal Chinese green tea will “lift the astronaut’s spirits.”
When it comes to the long-term goals of the space program, China’s vision sounds, to Western ears, downright naive. The nation plans to launch a lunar probe within three years. By 2020 it hopes to build its own space station. A lunar base may someday support a vast operation to mine helium-3, a rare material that could power nuclear reactors. “Many years from now, even space tourism could be a reality,” says Chen, whose been fascinated with the heavens ever since childhood. Chen set up his Web site Go Taikonauts! in 1998, and it’s already getting 10,000 hits a day. That thirst for information is sure to grow if this week’s scheduled launch is successful. The real test of China’s determination to explore space, though, will come when Project 921 runs up against the inevitable technical setbacks and ballooning expenditures. How starry-eyed will the Chinese be then?

© 2003 Newsweek, Inc.

chinapage · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2003 12:29 pm Post subject:

The rocket CZ-2f - Long March Model 2f -

More... at http://www.chinapage.com/space/space.html

chinapage · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2003 11:32 am Post subject:

India is unhappy about China's progress. Its own space program is not doing anything, but it hates China's success

The Times of India was far more blunt, running an editorial Monday that called the Shenzhou 5 launch "a joke."

"It would be better to call it China's Late Creep Forward, given that Beijing is attempting to showcase a four-decade-old technology," the Times said. "If this is China's idea of arriving, then it's come at a time when the other two spacefaring nations have left it light years behind."

Sour grapes!

whl626 · Joined: 13 Oct 2003 Posts: 27 Location: Malaysia

I learn that China authority has cancelled the live coverage at the last minute. I wonder what is the reason behind ? Is it because they are worried about any failure ?

Just got from the PHTV that the lauch will take place at 9 the next morning Smile

.

LONG LIVE SHENZHOU V ( a divine ship ) Very Happy

. The name I like so much and it sounds so cool. The two characters were written by Jiang Zemin if I am not mistaken Cool

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chinapage · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2003 9:22 am Post subject:

Zhenzhou 5 Blast Off!

October 15, 2003 at 9 AM Beijing time.

Keith · Joined: 10 Aug 2003 Posts: 15 Location: http://shufawest.us

Congratulations to all my Chinese friends on the first manned Chinese space flight! A new era for Chinese technology!

Keith

sllee · Joined: 10 Jul 2002 Posts: 729 Location: USA

Bravo!

The first taikonaut in space will open up a new era of China's technology. I agree that live broadcast of the launch is not necessary.

I particularly like the way China share this glory and honor by having the taikonaut holding the flag of the United Nationas in addition to the Chinese flag. It is the proper way to acknowledge that space flight is an endeavor of mankind and not just one country.
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chinapage · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2003 8:29 pm Post subject:

Shenzhou 5 spaceship has completed its flight and landed perfectly as planned, on October 16, 2003 at 6:23pm Beijing time.

Its landing spot is just 48 Km from the theoretical calculation.

The astronaut was met by the land crews who open the cabin, and
climbed out of the spaceship by himself.

Like clockwork! Very Happy

I followed the progress report, minute by minute, and nearly real-time, on sina.com web site. Very exciting.

whl626 · Joined: 13 Oct 2003 Posts: 27 Location: Malaysia

I heard 4.8 km Smile

. not 48 km from the original spot Smile

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mlthun · Joined: 16 Oct 2003 Posts: 3

Long live Shenzou, longlive China!

thank s for your effort, chinapage.
Smile

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mlthun · Joined: 16 Oct 2003 Posts: 3

the astranaut performed very well.
i like the idea of bringing the flag of UN to the space. all people of the world should protect the honor of UN.
as a chinese, i feel very proud of the special days.
China is not only show itsself, but telling the world the world should have a balance.
thinking of the days of more than 100 years ago, i feel nothing can describes how i feel. can people of those days imagin that one day they could be indefdent? can they imagine there s a day chinese have their own spaceship as the THIRD member in the world.
and i hope the spacetechique could be used for peace.
I pray for that.
I pray.
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whl626 · Joined: 13 Oct 2003 Posts: 27 Location: Malaysia

A series of launches will take place after this, I guess Smile

. In the future, China will turn the fairy tale of ( Zhang er ben yue ) into a reality Smile

that is to set foot on the moon.
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mlthun · Joined: 16 Oct 2003 Posts: 3

i think China should keep research on how to make the system even much better, more reliable. a space staion is needed. and then study on further object to land the moon.
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chinapage · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2003 11:23 am Post subject:

chinapage · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2003 1:25 pm Post subject: Facts and figures

Facts and figures of the manned spacecraft Shenzhou

http://www.chinapage.com/space/shenzhou-facts.html

chinapage · Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2003 11:26 am Post subject:

Sina.com presented a good set of presentation in the form of flash movies.

I urge you to take a look. If you have never seen flash movies on your computer before, then simply download a free copy of the software.

http://www.chinapage.com/space/shenzhou-flash.html

If you do not wish to view the movie, the above webpage also shows several as slides.

After you see slides, you may change your mind and look at the movie clip.

chinapage · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2003 6:19 pm Post subject:

Photo taken by astronaut Yang

sllee · Joined: 10 Jul 2002 Posts: 729 Location: USA

Der Ming,

According to the Chinese representative in US, the landing was indeed only 4.8 km from the planned location. They have arranged to have other countries, as far as South America, to retrieve the taikonaut in case he misses the landing site. But it was so precise that it took only 8 minutes for the team to reached the site (so it is more like 4.8 km than 48 km).

http://www.people.com.cn/GB/keji/1056/2136443.html
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whl626 · Joined: 13 Oct 2003 Posts: 27 Location: Malaysia

Yes, only 4.8 km off the target. I got it repeatedly from the news broadcast. That is a stunning success and accuracy.
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chinapage · Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2003 12:08 am Post subject:

There is no question that the landing is very, very precise.

The first broadcast I heard said it is 4.8 km from the theoretical point.
Later, I heard another broadcast which said that 4.8 km was an error
and it was 48 km.
Still later, 4.8 km was mentioned again.

Here is the time-line:
06:14 The re-entry module ignited before landing, the ground command center ordered Yang to drop the heat-prevention layer at the bottom of the module. Yang reported "feel hot".

06:16 The main parachute of the re-entry module in normal operation, the ground kept talking with Yang.

06:22 Five rescue helicopters in normal work.

06:23 The re-entry module landed at the preset site.

06:24 A helicopter spotted the main parachute of the re-entry module.

06:25 The parachute dropped off.

06:26 Rescue vehicles set out.

06:27 "Recovery No 3", a team of rescuers reported they found the re-entry module 7.05 kilometers away.

06:30 "Recovery No.3" talked with Yang by short wave.

06:31 Premier Wen Jiabao talked with Yang, congratulating his smooth return. Wen said

According to this, "Recovery No.3" helicopter reported 7.05 km away.

Plus the fact that a horde of people were at the space module before the helicopter crew arrived at the site, it would seem that
the point of landing must be very, very close to the theoretical
point of landing. So we can accept 4.8 km as the correct figure.

chinapage · Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2003 4:23 pm Post subject: Cost of China's space program.

According to the official figures, the total cost of the space program for
the entire 10 year period is US$2.6 billion.

This is half of what NASA spent in one year for U.S. shuttle program.

翠 · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Posts: 11

Does anyone know how this space shuttle got its name ?

有谁知道"神舟"的来源是来自"神舟" 吗?

whl626 · Joined: 13 Oct 2003 Posts: 27 Location: Malaysia

Jiang Zemin gave it a name as ' Shenzhou '
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Aolung · Joined: 10 Jul 2002 Posts: 1037

Ming:

chinapage · Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2003 12:15 am Post subject:

Yahoo has a 101-photo slide show at

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?g=events/sc/100803chinaspace&a=&tmpl=sl&ns=&l=1&e=1&t=&prev=25

with many great photos.

johnnkw · Joined: 01 May 2006 Posts: 2

Hi i'm doing a research on Yang LiWei,China 1st astronaut in Shenzhou 5.I hope someone can help me with this and tell me bout his background(full background eg.his parents' name etc) and others.Website that have information about him is also welcomed.Ty!!!

chinapage · Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 5:47 pm Post subject:

Peronal bio is usually sketchy and not well reported.

See http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%A8%E5%88%A9%E4%BC%9F

for his background.

johnnkw · Joined: 01 May 2006 Posts: 2

already been there...not detailed enuff...Anyway i prefered it to be in english coz i'm going to present it in english also.The animation is good.Do u have it in english?