China's
next Shenzhou spacecraft to launch astronauts into orbit is under construction
as officials draw up plans for the 2008 space shot, the country’s
state-run media reported Friday.
The
country's next crewed spaceflight, Shenzhou
7, is slated to launch three astronauts spaceward and include at least one
spacewalk as China moves forward with plans to build an orbital space station.
“All
the equipment of the separate systems has been delivered to China’s space
aviation center for assembly,” Qi Faren, chief designer of China’s
first five Shenzhou spacecraft, was quoted as saying by the Xinhua News
Agency.
Qi
spoke at China’s Sixth China International Aviation and Aerospace
Exhibition held this week at the southern city of Zhuhai in the Guangdong
province.
Yang
Liwei, China’s first
astronaut, also spoke at the air show, where he announced that he and the
Shenzhou 6 spaceflyers—Fei
Junlong and Nie Haisheng—are in the running to fly the Shenzhou 7
mission, state media reported.
“Currently,
we three—Fei, Nie and I—and some other astronauts are being trained
for the third space mission,” Yang was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
Yang
made history when he orbited the Earth 14 times in 21 ½ hours during
China’s Shenzhou
5 mission in 2003 as part of the country’s first crewed spaceflight.
Fei and Nie launched
aboard Shenzhou
6 for a five-day mission in October 2005, marking China’s
first two-astronaut crew.
China’s
Shenzhou 7 mission is expected to launch three astronauts into orbit and to
feature the nation’s first spacewalk, which may in include one or two
spaceflyers and run about 30 minutes in length, according to past reports.
According
to the Shanghai Daily newspaper, the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft will feature
a “pressure cabin” so that spacewalkers can adjust to
weightlessness before their planned spacewalk. Chinese spacewalkers will don
$20 million spacesuits, which weigh about 220 pounds (100 kilograms) on Earth,
and are different from those used during the Shenzhou 5 and 6 spaceflights, the
Shanghai Daily reported.
Yang
reportedly said that Shenzhou 7 spacewalkers will perform a series of tasks
outside their spacecraft, including tightening screws and installing equipment,
according to a Xinhua report.
China
is only the third nation, after the former Soviet
Union and the U.S. [video],
to independently launch astronauts into space.
The
country’s Shenzhou (Divine Vessel) spaceships [image]
are based
on Russia’s three-segment Soyuz vehicles,
but have been extensively modernized and modified by Chinese spacecraft
designers.
One
major difference is the Shenzhou’s ability to leave its solar array-equipped
orbital
module in space for months at a time. Such modules could serve as a docking
target for future spacecraft, or as the foundation of a small space station, space
experts have said.
“China
will build a space laboratory after the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft is successfully
launched, and eventually build its own space station to resolve the problems
related to large-scale space-based scientific experiments and technological
applications,” Yang was quoted as saying by Xinhua in a separate
report.
Shenzhou
8 is expected to mark China’s first orbital docking
between two spacecraft, a vital step forward for any planned space station.
“Shenzhou
8, Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10 are all being planned and the intervals between
them will become shorter,” Xinhua quoted Qi as saying.
But
China will apparently have to wait awhile before seeing its first female
astronaut reach orbit.
“China’s
space program has no missions for women astronauts yet, so we haven’t
started selecting women astronauts,” Yang—who also serves as deputy
director of the China Astronaut Research and Training Center—was quoted
as saying by Xinhua.
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