The assembly of China's second manned spaceship and its carrier
rocket has been completed.
The Jiuquan
Satellite Launch Base in China's northwest Gansu
Province says the assembly of Shenzhou VI spaceship and the
Long March 2F rocket was finished Wednesday afternoon.
Jiang Jingshan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
who was involved in the first flight, said the spaceship is
expected to be launched on October 13 if weather permits.
He said the launch date for Shenzhou VI could change according
to weather conditions.
The expert said two astronauts have been selected to orbit Earth
for five days, expanding the 21-hour flight of Shenzhou V which
circled Earth 14 times in 2003.
He did not disclose the names of the astronauts who are expected
to conduct experiments in the flight module and an orbital vehicle
that will remain in space for months after the astronauts return to
earth.
The Shanghai Morning Post, reported last month that Zhai
Zhigang and Nie Haisheng were the likely candidates to be chosen to
pilot the flight.
China's first man in space Yang Liwei, who became a national
hero after his Shenzhou V flight, was named as sole astronaut of
the inaugural manned flight only hours before the launch.
In a related development, the meteorological expert group that
takes part in launching "Shenzhou VI" has been working on the
launch base and it is responsible for providing the most accurate
weather forecast.
They pointed out the launch time for both "Shenzhou V" and
"Shenzhou VI" is in the daytime.
The main reason is that the rise in temperature at noon is more
advantageous for the working personnel to make final preparations
for "Shenzhou VI" and is also easier to provide full protection for
the astronauts' personal safety should any accident occur.
An aerospace expert taking part in the development and
manufacture of the spaceship said that the key points in designing
"Shenzhou VI" are to optimize the setup of the whole spaceship,
make rational arrangements for the on-orbit working modes of the
newly added equipment, ensure the energy balance of the spaceship,
and further increase the reliability and safety of the
spaceship.
Another researcher concerned said that "Shenzhou VI" is not just
a duplicate of "Shenzhou V" at all.
He pointed out that over 100 technological modifications have
been made in "Shenzhou VI" and the spaceship will carry more
experiments up into space.
During the long flight, the two astronauts will be able to take
off their 10 kg space suits, open the door between the return cabin
and the orbit cabin, and enter for the first time the orbit cabin
to conduct scientific experiments.
In the cabin of "Shenzhou VI", sleeping bags have been provided
in order to make the astronauts more comfortable; and the two
astronauts can also warm up their food, do some sanitary work, and
take a rest in turns.
China, the third country to put a man in space following the
former Soviet Union and the United States, hopes to launch a
mission to probe the moon by 2007 and land an unmanned vehicle on
it by 2017.
(CRI, October 6, 2005)
