posted September 29, 2008 09:50 AM               

China purchased the technology and training experience from Russia. Taikonauts trained in Star City, and Russian officials were on hand for each Shenzhou flight in mission control.

The thing to remember though, is that China could have stopped there. They could have simply purchased the Soyuz, the Sokols and Orlans, and flown them as is. ESA is working toward launching Soyuz rockets from Kourou, so it's not unprecedented.

Instead, they improved upon the Russian technology. The Shenzhou is a more capable vehicle than the Soyuz. The Feitian is more advanced than the Orlan M that Liu wore during Zhai's spacewalk.

posted September 29, 2008 02:21 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Delta7:
Next up: 1966. Rendezvous and docking.

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posted September 30, 2008 04:48 AM               

1. The Chinese did a good job: but they're not going to the Moon anytime soon using technology purchased from Russia: the Russians have never managed to get a Cosmonaut out of low Earth orbit.

2. The UK has achieved nothing worthwhile in space exploration since Black Knight and Blue Streak and has shown no enthusiasm for space travel since the sixties. If it can't be sold to Saudi Arabia, it doesn't get built!

3. All other contenders (India, Japan, ESA) lack the political will, popular support and funding for advanced spaceflight programs

4. The jury is still out on how serious the US government is about funding a replacement for the Shuttle or missions to the Moon / Mars. With the current melt-down of western economies / commitments to unwinable conflicts, I don't expect to see a Moon landing in my lifetime (I'm 58).

posted September 30, 2008 10:03 AM               

Xinhua: Chinese astronauts back to Beijing

Cheering crowds, including wives and children of the three Chinese taikonauts, greeted here Monday morning the brave trio who fulfilled China's third manned space mission and returned to their training camp in Beijing's suburbs.

After a brief physical checkup upon the Shenzhou-7's safe landing Saturday afternoon on north China's grassland, Chinese taikonauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng were transferred back to the space program headquarters, or space town.

The spacemen were also greeted by their wives and children. At a military airport in Beijing, the wives, all tearful but joyful, accompanied the husbands to a limousine which carried them back to the headquarters.

This was the only brief re-union of the couples before the three astronauts undergo a two-week preventive quarantine in the space town medical facilities.

A new fad on space exploration is swirling Inner Mongolia where an area is reserved for landing of Chinese spaceships. Local people are very interested in buying books on space knowledge.

posted September 30, 2008 10:18 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by David Bryant:
So good luck to ANYONE who wants to continue sending Astronauts / Taikonauts / Cosmonauts into Space!

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posted September 30, 2008 10:20 AM            

Rendezvous, did they do that already on Shenzhou VII?

On Gemini-5 in 1965, the GT-5 spacecraft released a small pod (read: satellite) from the back of the spacecraft, and attempted to rendezvous with it, until power problems interrupted that attempt (though the crew later accomplished a "Phantom Rendezvous").

On Shenzhou VII, they released a small satellite with television capacity right after the spacewalk - but we haven't heard anything about this. Have the Chinese already jumped ahead a step - and are ready for docking with their own laboratory?

posted September 30, 2008 10:39 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by E2M Lem Man:
Have the Chinese already jumped ahead a step - and are ready for docking with their own laboratory?

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"The task will test our ability to observe and control two objects in relative motion in space. Through this, we will prepare for the future orbiter docking."

posted October 01, 2008 12:12 AM               

If so, Shenzhou 8 and 9 could dock with each other, or with a "target", like Gemini?
As for a space station (or Moon mission), doesn't that involve a new launcher (Long March 5 if I recall correctly is in the works)? If so will be powerful enough for a Moon mission? Space station, yes - but for the Moon, multiple launches to assembly a Moonship?

posted October 01, 2008 08:05 AM            

The only known rockets that could get an EDS, lander, and crew into orbit in one shot are sitting in museums. (Source)

posted October 02, 2008 06:59 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by cspg:
So rendezvous is next in the picture?

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posted October 03, 2008 08:58 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Mr Meek:
The Long March 5, despite the numerical coincidence, does not have the heavy lifting ability of even the Ares I*.

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And do you believe the "source" link you've provided? It states that Ariane 5 ECA has a 21,000kg to LEO but I've just read that such payload may be attributed to Ariane 5 next version, if approved, due to start 2016.

posted October 05, 2008 09:58 PM               

Rare herbal plants aboard Shenzhou-7 spacecraft studied

Several rare herbal plants aboard the recent Shenzhou-7 space mission have now been transferred to a Chinese nanobiotechnology lab for study.

The plants, including rauwolfia and salvia miltiorrhiza (also known as red sage), were used to produce nanomedicines to treat cancerous tumors, Professor Zhang Yangde with China's Laboratory of Nanobiotechnology at the Central South University told the Changsha Daily newspaper in Hunnan Province on Thursday.

Chinese scientists on Sunday successfully directed the accompanying satellite BX-1 to begin circling the Shenzhou-7 spaceship, on an elliptical track of 4 kilometers multiplying 8 kilometers.

It is the first time that China has succeeded in maneuvering this kind of space orbiting, official sources say.

The accompanying satellite began orbiting the orbital capsule of the Shenzhou-7 at 18:14 pm, under the close monitoring and precise control of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

The BX-1 rode the Shenzhou-7 into the space on September 25 and it was launched by the spacecraft two days later. Since September 30, the control center changed its track six times to draw it closer to the space vehicle step by step, and finally it succeeded in orbiting the capsule.

Over the past days, the monitoring satellite has shot over 1,000 pictures of the spaceship from different angles. All the pictures are clear and complete, said an official with the space program.

The photos were condensed and stored after they were taken by the cameras installed on the satellite. The BX-1 shot its first photo six seconds after being released.

In one of the pictures published by the official, the spacecraft was flying like an eagle with the Earth as its background.