China plans space station with module launch in 2010
CHINA: China will launch a space module next year and carry out the
nation’s first space docking in 2011 as a step towards its goal of
building a space station, state media said Sunday.
The Tiangong-1, or “Heavenly Palace-1” is scheduled for launch in
late 2010 and will dock with a Shenzhou-8 spacecraft early the following
year, Xinhua news agency said, citing officials with China’s space
programme.
“The module, named Tiangong-1, is designed to provide a ‘safe room’
for Chinese astronauts to live and conduct scientific research in zero
gravity,” the report said.
“Weighing about 8.5 tonnes, Tiangong-1 is able to perform long-term
unattended operation, which will be an essential step toward building a
space station.”
Space programme officials have previously said China is expected to
place in orbit several modules like the Tiangong and link them up to
form a semi-permanent space platform.
It was not immediately clear if the Tiangong-1 would eventually serve
as China’s first manned space station, or whether it would only be a
platform to test docking and space station technology.
The planned 2011 space docking would be remotely carried out by
scientists on the ground and would not involve astronauts, the report
said.
China became the third nation to put a man in space when Yang Liwei
piloted the one-man Shenzhou-5 space mission in 2003.
Last September, the Shenzhou-7, piloted by three “taikonauts” or
astronauts, carried out China’s first space walk.
Several prototypes of the Tiangong would be built this year, while
upgrades to the carrier rocket that will launch the module into space
would also be carried out, the report said.
Following the Shenzhou-8 flight, China also hopes to begin the mass
production of Shenzhou spacecraft which will be used to transport
astronauts to the space station, it said.
The International Space Station commenced with the launch into orbit
of the first station element, a Russian-built module on November 20,
1998.
It orbits some 350 kilometres (190 miles) above the earth’s surface
with a permanent crew of three astronauts who remain aboard for stays
lasting several months.
Beijing, Sunday, AFP |