Chinas unpiloted Shenzhou 3 spaceship may take to the skies within days, according to a Beijing-backed newspaper, the Wen Wei Po. The newspaper cited sources that the Shenzhou craft is expected to carry a "human model", wired to study human responses to space travel.
The spacecraft is to depart from China's Jiuquan Space Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province.
Preparations for the Shenzhou 3 mission have been underway for months. The vehicle was apparently being readied for takeoff late last year. However, a key official in the project -- Hu Shixiang, deputy director of the General Armament Department of the People's Liberation Army was reported as stating that "product quality" problems had cropped up and delayed the flight,
With those problems behind them, the Shenzhou 3 sits atop Long March 2-F booster ready for takeoff. The Chinese-language Wen Wei Po newspaper also noted that a tracking ship geared to monitor the unpiloted craft during its mission has left port and is steaming to position. Further, the booster will deploy into orbit a piggyback satellite along with the Shenzhou-3 vehicle.
Blossoming space agenda
Chinas ambitious but paced space program contains many elements.
A key space agenda item is attaining a prestigious position in the world community of spacefaring nations: become the third country after Russia and the United States to have an independent, in-country, capability to launch humans into orbit.
A masterplan for space, as outlined by government officials, also calls for placing Chinese astronauts often called Taikonauts on the Moon by 2010.
Western military space strategists are also keeping an eye on Chinas blossoming space skills.
As is the case for the United States and Russia, using the high ground of space for reconnaissance, electronic eavesdropping, and other strategic purposes has not gone unnoticed by China.
Orbital track record
The step-by-step Shenzhou program began in November 1999. That initial shakeout flight saw the capsule spin around Earth 14 times, then parachute to a soft touchdown in Inner Mongolia.
Shenzhou 2 followed that first flight in January 2001. A more aggressive test of the craft had the multi-module space vehicle remaining in Earth orbit for nearly 7 days, circuiting Earth 108 times. The Shenzhou 2 mission, after ejecting an Earth return capsule loaded with biological specimens, also included extensive maneuvers of an orbital module left behind in space.
The soon-to-fly Shenzhou 3 is therefore expected to increase confidence that a human space trek is feasible in the near future. How soon a piloted vehicle will roar skyward depends on the success of the upcoming mission.
China space program official, Hu, has been quoted as saying that a fourth unpiloted Shenzhou is targeted for later this year. Speculation has it, therefore, that Chinas first piloted flight may take place in 2003.
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