Shenzhou VI has excellently fulfilled all the planned experiments in its second day's flight, and the anti-disturbance experiments aboard the spacecraft proved successful, experts said Thursday night.
The two astronauts, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, had carried out a series of anti-disturbance experiments in the capsules since Thursday morning, including closing and reopening the internal capsule door, moving between the orbital and re-entry capsules, taking on and off space suits, and testing the condensation water extraction system.
These experiments were conducted with exaggerating movements in a bid to test the effects of their actions to the spacecraft. The results proved that the spacecraft was fully capable of enduring all the disturbance, and then astronauts would be allowed to move in a relatively free way, said Zheng Songhui, consultant of the spacecraft system.
Chinese first astronaut Yang Liwei, who piloted the first Chinese manned spacecraft, Shenzhou V, two years ago, flew about 600,000 kilometers in space, in 21 hours and 23 minutes.
Fei and Nie aboard China's second piloted spacecraft Shenzhou VI had made a space journey of 680,000 kilometers in their first 24-hour flight as of 9:00 AM Thursday. They have set a record of distance covered in a single day by Chinese, and have become the Chinese staying for the longest time in space.
"They were breaking records every minute in space," said Zheng, the aerospace expert.
The pair's body functions remain normal, and the spacecraft system also stands the test and works well so far, according to experts.
Shenzhou VI may break a new record if the reliability of the spacecraft system continues to stand the test during its third day's flight on Friday.
(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2005)
