Space officials in China foresee their own space station up and operating in the not-too-distant future, serviced by Shenzhou spacecraft. Meanwhile, the training of a cadre of astronauts is underway, with the country's first piloted spacecraft likely to soar into Earth orbit in 2003.
Clearing the way for further progress is the successful flight of the automated Shenzhou 3. Lofted into space on March 25, the craft's return module parachuted to Earth on April 1. The vehicle's orbital module remains in space and has been maneuvered by ground controllers.
Science payload
Along with a set of heavily instrumented mannequins, the Shenzhou 3 carried numerous experiments during its seven-day space hop.
Among items stuffed inside the spacecraft's return module: An experimental microchip, a space egg-hatching incubator, a vaccine experiment, and grapevine and evergreen seeds. A box of black-bone chicken eggs was also flown. This experiment was designed to study the effects of space travel on embryo growth, inheritance and breed selection, according to state-controlled media sources.
According to a report in the People's Daily, seeds of tree-plum, china pink, alfalfa and kudzu vine flew as part of Shenzhou 3's cargo. Scientists are attempting to cultivate seeds in space, creating special strains of plants that sprout and grow even after months of dryness. These special plants can be used in northwest China for the protection of roads and slopes.
Shenzhou 3 toted into space a streamer signed by research staff and engineers of the spacecraft. A Chinese traditional painting -- the "Soaring Chinese Dragon" -- was flown, the product of over 30 calligraphers and painters and signed by dozen space experts.
Souvenirs from China's first astronauts now in training made the roundtrip trek too.
Shenzhou shuttle-bus
China news outlet, the People's Daily, identified Qi Faren as chief-designer of the Shenzhou 3 spacecraft. He said that reliability of the vehicle and astronaut safety is the highest priority. The recent test flight has proven the readiness of hardware to support a live-in crew, he said.
Qi Faren said the return module is designed to take three astronauts.
Looking into the near future, Qi Faren said that Shenzhou 4's design is a mirror of Shenzhou 3. However, more scientific gear is to be housed within the next spacecraft's module section that remains in Earth orbit for an extended period, he said.
Calling it a "shuttle-bus" between the Earth and the universe, Qi Faren said Shenzhou provides a link to China's space station that will be established in the future.
First generation space station
Phillip Clark, head of Molniya Space Consultancy in the United Kingdom, said a yet-to-fly Chinese booster is in the wings, and critical to shaping China's human spaceflight effort. That launcher, the Long March 2EA, is billed as being able to shove between 12-14 metric into low Earth orbit.
"I see that as possibly launching a first generation space lab that the Chinese can use until their new generation launch vehicles, the Long March 5 family, come on line," Clark told SPACE.com. That more powerful rocket could toss into orbit a 20 metric ton class facility, comparable in weight to Russia's early Salyut space station design, he said.
Clark noted that Shenzhou 3's orbital module continues to circle the Earth. It was maneuvered April 1, although the unit has not been flown as aggressively, so far, as did Shenzhou 2's orbital module. It stayed in orbit for 7 months in 2001.
There is no sign that a small satellite attached to the Shenzhou 3 orbital module has been released, Clark said.
The Shenzhou 3 orbital module could be used as a rendezvous target for an unpiloted Shenzhou 4 flight later this year, Clark speculated. If that mission is successful, a Shenzhou 5, perhaps carrying China's first set of astronauts, might fly late this year, or early 2003, he said.
China's space authorities have intimated that the first crew will rocket into orbit onboard a Shenzhou 6 in 2003. However, the first piloted mission, they add, depends on the success of upcoming, unpiloted test flights.
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