China’s space dream crystallized with Shenzhou-10 launch
CHINA: China successfully launched its fifth manned spacecraft late
Tuesday afternoon, sending three astronauts on the country’s longest
space trip.
With 10 astronauts and six spacecraft launched into space in a
decade, China is speeding up on the path of exploration and building a
home for Chinese in the galaxy. At a see-off ceremony held hours before
the launch, Chinese President Xi Jinping extended good wishes to the
three astronauts.
“The mission’s crew members carry a space dream of the Chinese
nation, and represent the lofty aspirations of the Chinese people to
explore space,” said Xi.
The President later watched the launch at the Jiuquan Satellite
Launch Center in northwest China, and shook hands with staff at the
center after the successful launch.
Unlike the space trip of Yang Liwei, China’s first astronaut who
boarded the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft in 2003, of less than a day, the three
astronauts will stay for half a month.
In its journey, Shenzhou-10 will dock with the orbiting space lab
Tiangong-1 twice, once through automatic operation and the other manual,
and a lecture will for the first time be given on board the assembled
orbiter to a group of teenage students on the ground.
Compared with the previous nine Shenzhou spacecraft, the Shenzhou-10
is no longer experimental but considered an applicable shuttle system
for transporting astronauts and supplies to orbiting modules.
“It is like developing a new type of car. You have to try it on roads
of different conditions. Now trials are over and the car can be put into
formal operation,” said Zhou Jianping, chief engineer of China’s manned
space program.
On the other hand, the upgraded Long March-2F carrier rocket is
technically the same as the one used with the Shenzhou-9 manned
spacecraft.
“No alteration means that China’s rocket technology is becoming
mature,” said Jing Muchun, chief designer of the carrier rocket. This
mission aims to further test technologies designed for docking and
supporting astronauts’ stay in space, as well as to use new technologies
related to the construction of a space station, said Wu Ping, China’s
manned space program spokeswoman, at a press conference on Monday.
The Tiangong-1 space lab has been in orbit for about 620 days, and
about three months are left before the designated end of its service.
The module is considered the first step toward China operating a
permanent space station around 2020 and making it the world’s third
country to do so.
The nation is likely to launch a space station before 2016. There are
risks that the conditions of some components on Tiangong-1 might not be
at their best since the module is near the end of its service and has
gone through four docking tests, Wu said.
For Nie Haisheng, commander of the three-member crew and a
second-time space traveler, this mission will be longer, with more
experiments to be conducted, than his previous outing in 2006.
“It will be a new challenge with greater risks,” Nie told the media
on Monday. However, he is looking forward to entering the space lab
module. “My colleagues and I will work in a home for Chinese in space,”
he said. For this mission, the manned space program also considered
approaching the public.
In a lecture through a live video feed system, female astronaut Wang
Yaping will introduce motion in a microgravity environment, surface
tension of liquid, and help students understand weight, mass and
Newton’s Laws. Wang will also interact with students and teachers on
Earth and the lecture will be broadcast live.
Ordinary Chinese, especially science enthusiasts, are excited about
the new mission.
“It is a festival for space fans,” said Zhao Yang, a researcher with
the China Science and Technology Museum, who just watched the Hollywood
sci-fi blockbuster Star Trek Into Darkness on Monday.
He was very much interested in the lecture to be given in space,
saying, “There might be an interesting introduction about the weightless
condition.”
For renowned science fiction novelist Liu Xinci, Tuesday’s events
reinforced his belief that he will live to see space travel become
accessible for all common people. He has a very vivid vision of future
life. “In the next century, human beings will set foot on all planets in
the solar system. People will inhabit the moon and Mars. A lot of people
will work in space as space journeys will be as easy as flights.”
- XINHUA |