Chinese aerospace experts saved the country's first ever manned
space mission as the spaceship was faced with lethal impact while
flying through the communications blackout area before landing.
The Xi'an Satellite Monitor and Control Center released recently
for the first time the danger met by the spacecraft, Shenzhou V,
and China's first astronaut Yang Liwei.
Dong Deyi, head of the Xi'an center, said in an interview with
Xinhua that Yang lost every means to contact with the ground
command and control headquarters as soon as entering in the
aerosphere, which fell in the worst case scenario prepared by the
space mission team.
Every spacecraft would be covered by plasma as running through
the aerosphere, according to experts. The plasma obstructs
communications between spacecraft and command and control center on
the ground.
"Even radar could not capture any signal from the returning
module," Dong said.
After the Shenzhou V went out of the blackout area, Dong said,
the echo signals from the spaceship were still volatile which
sufficiently threaten a safe landing of astronaut Yang.
The Xi'an center, which is responsible for every landing of the
Shenzhou spaceships since 1999, ordered implementation of the
optical guiding and tracking system instead of communication-guided
landing control, Dong said.
The aerospace technologists used cinetheodolites on the ground
to measure spacecraft position and record the movement of the
Shenzhou V. Precise positioning of the spacecraft enabled officers
to properly control the slow-down parachute which was vital to a
soft landing.
However, the landing spot was nine kilometers east of the
previously planned location, Dong said, citing that the rescue team
reached astronaut Yang 12 minutes after his successful landing.
China began its clandestine manned space program in 1992, which
was coded as the 921 Project. Since then, China has spent at least
20 billion yuan (US$2.64 billion) in the project and sent three
astronauts into orbit.
(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2007)