High-ranking Russian space officials confirmed Monday that for the past decade Chinese representatives have contacted various Russian rocket and space companies in an effort to obtain information and hardware related to piloted space flight.
In the mid-1990s, China purchased a Soyuz descent module (reentry capsule) from RKK Energia, as well as obsolete rendezvous and docking hardware from one of RKK's Ukrainian sub-contractors, the official told space.com.
At the time, however, there was no intergovernmental agreement on space exploration and the purchases were arranged as private deals. The descent module supplied to China contained the minimum of actual hardware, said the Russian official, who did not wish to be identified.
Avionics and other crucial systems were just mock-ups. Nevertheless, the descent capsule obviously helped Chinese engineers to choose the configuration for their spacecraft, and to design a landing system.
Prior to the reentry capsule purchase, Chinese officials expressed interest in buying an entire full-scale Soyuz spacecraft with all its internal components, the official said. However, China backed out from the deal after learning the price for the vehicle. This contradicts the previous speculations in the West -- notably the Cox Report on Chinese espionage -- that China did buy an entire Soyuz spacecraft from Russia.
Chinese representatives visited almost every major Russian center involved in the latter's piloted space program, hinting that commercial contracts would be possible, though they never entered into any real negotiations. Chinese experts were reportedly interested in the wide range of Russian expertise in subjects such as the dynamics of spaceflight and flight control, as well as energy supply systems.
China also made minor purchases of technical documentation and obsolete hardware.
Russian space experts were also invited to "give lectures" on space-related subjects in China. During such visits the Chinese hosts inevitably tried to "milk" information about technology related to piloted spaceflight, the Russian expert said.
Apparently, China also approached the production center in the city of Samara, which builds Soyuz launch vehicles that carry Russian cosmonauts into the orbit.
"Since no commercial agreements were reached, the Chinese just got bits and pieces, here and there," the source said, "No doubt, they got only fragments of information from Russia and had to do bulk of the work themselves."
Most contacts between Russian and Chinese space companies took place in the first half of 1990s. There has been little or no contact over the last 18-months, the Russian official said.
On Saturday, China launched the spacecraft Shenzhou. Though this flight did not carry a crew, the craft is designed to carry people into, and back from orbit.
Chinese authorities were tight-lipped about the program. The government's official Xinhua news agency said the return module "touched down" in the northern province of Inner Mongolia at around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday (1930 GMT Saturday).
The released animation on the flight and other available data confirmed that the vehicle resembles a Soyuz spacecraft. Earlier reports had suggested the development of a considerably larger vehicle than Soyuz. The latest information, however, proves that at least for now, the Chinese have limited their space ambition to developing a Soyuz sibling.
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