Chinese Space News (November 1999)

• [November 30, 1999] Message From Yeltsin
  Russian President Boris Yeltsin sent a message to Chinese President Jiang Zemin to congratulate China on the successfully launch of the "Shenzhou" spaceship, said the Russian Presidential Press Service on Sunday. "Russia is pleased by successes of friendly China in the high-tech aerospace sphere and wishes new achievements to your country, " Yeltsin said in the message.(Xinhua)

• [November 30, 1999] More Details About Shenzhou Landing and the Orbital Module
  PLA Daily reported that Shenzhou landing was "with good status". The touch down point was only 12km away from the predicted position. Evidences found from the capsule and nearby area show that the touch down rocket worked well. No damages and abnormalities found from the capsule structure, the heat shell and the sealing components. All discarded parts were found within 5km around the landing point. The newspaper also reported that the orbital module will stay in orbit for planned experiments.

• [November 30, 1999] Manned Flight Unlikely in 2000
  One of Shenzhou designers said on a Chinese newspaper that he does not believe a manned flight could happen in 2000. China has not set the date for the first manned mission. It could be in any time as long as all systems proven ready. He said Shenzhou was not equipped with a docking system in this launch but has an "additional segment" that could be replaced by the docking unit in future.

• [November 30, 1999] Jiang Zemin Inspects Shenzhou Capsule
  President Jiang Zemin Wednesday inspected the recovered capsule of the "Shenzhou" spacecraft that successfully conducted China's first space mission over the weekend. Vice-President Hu Jintao, Zhang Wannian and Chi Haotian, both vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission, also inspected the capsule. At about 5 pm, Jiang visited the Beijing Aerospace Technology Research and Experiment Center at the Aerospace City and carefully observed the capsule as it was opened. Jiang asked questions about the capsule. When asked what is the material of capsule's heat resistant shell, Qi Faren, the chief designer of the spacecraft, answered "composite material". (Xinhua, CAST)

• [November 30, 1999] Qi Faren Talks About Shenzhou
  The Shenzhou spaceship is the most complex spacecraft ever build in China. It has 13 subsystems. In addition to the subsystems of normal unmanned spacecraft, Shenzhou has others including environment control and life support system, and an emergency escape subsystem. Development of the 13 subsystems was undertaken by more than 300 organisations in China. Shenzhou is composed of four sections. They are the propellant (service) section, the re-entry section, the orbital section that is unique to the Chinese spaceship, and the additional section where various scientific tests are conducted. The service and the additional sections are not sealed. Compared with the Russian spaceship, Shenzhou has a more roomy interior and larger loading capacity. In addition, Shenzhou will differ from Russian craft in its docking system. (China Economic Times)

• [November 30, 1999] Shenzhou Designer Steps to Limelight
  Millions of people worldwide are now aware of "Shenzhou" but few people have ever heard of Qi Faren, the general designer of the craft. Qi, 66, was graduated from the Beijing Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1957, the year the Soviet Union sent the Sputnik into orbit. Qi had participated in the research and design of China's first satellite - the Dongfanghong-1, which was successfully placed into orbit in 1970. He was appointed the general designer of China's spacecraft in 1992, During the ensuing seven years, Qi directed and co-ordinated his thousand-strong team to "make a breakthrough in China's manned space travel technology." "We are now losing no time in furthering our research. We plan to send humans into space as soon as possible," he said. (China Daily)

• [November 23, 1999] Shenzhou Returns Beijing
  The re-entry capsule of Shenzhou has returned Beijing at 12:30 Beijing time today. The module was carried back by a special train and has been delivered to China Academy of Space Technoloy for examination and analysis.

• [November 23, 1999] Shenzhou Carries Simulated Taikonaut
  Chinese media reveals that the first unmanned Shenzhou launch did carry a "taikonaut" onboard. This taikonaut is a simulation human model to test the human engineering design of the spacecraft. Reports did not mention whether Shenzhou was outfitted with full life support system in this launch. Shenzhen also carried scientific experiment equipment, various plant seeds, flags of China and Macau, as well as stamps.

• [November 23, 1999] Is Shenzhou A Copy of Soyuz?
  High-ranking Russian space officials confirmed Monday that for the past decade China have contacted various Russian rocket and space companies. In the mid-1990s, China purchased a Soyuz descent module (reentry capsule) from RKK Energia, as well as obsolete rendezvous and docking hardware. The purchases were arranged as private deals. The descent module supplied to China contained the minimum of actual hardware, said the Russian official. Avionics and other crucial systems were just mock-ups. Nevertheless, the descent capsule obviously helped Chinese engineers to choose the configuration for their spacecraft, and to design a landing system. "Since no commercial agreements were reached, the Chinese just got bits and pieces, here and there," the source said, "No doubt, they got only fragments of information from Russia and had to do bulk of the work themselves." (Space.com)

• [November 21, 1999] More Details About the Shenzhou Launch
  Chinese media revealed more details about the Shenzhou filght today. China Central TV (CCTV) released the video of the launch and launch preperation and a computer rendered re-entry simulation. The video confirmed the early photos of the CZ-2F launcher, the launch pad and the VAB. The spacecraft is almost identical to that of previously predicted. But the animation did not show the anticipated second pair of solar panels. The video does not include the landing but newspaper reports have detailed description about the "touching down". The re-entry command was sent from Yuan Wang 3 that was located in south Atlantic Ocean. According to reports, the parachute was released at altitude of 30km. The touch down rocket was fired when the vehicle was 1.5m above the ground. For the manned mission, Chinese space official said it would be after several times of unmmaned test.

• [November 21, 1999] China Announces Successful "Shenzhou" Launch
  Xinhua News Agency announces early morning that China's first experimental spacecraft, part of the country's manned space flight program, touched down in the central Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China at 3:41 a.m. (Beijing time) today, successfully concluding the first flight of the system. The space vehicle, named "Shenzhou" by President Jiang Zemin, was launched with a new model of "Long March" rocket at 6:30 a.m. (Beijing time) on November 20 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province.

• [November 20, 1999] China Has Likely Launched The Project 921 Vehicle
  There are rumors on the Internet that China has launched its first unmanned manned spacecraft from Jiuquan at 6:30am Beijing time (GMT 2230 Nov 19). It is said that the spacecraft will return tomorrow and the news would be released that time. This breaking news has not been confirmed by any officail sources. However, Phillip Clark, a noted UK space expert, reports that 4 Yuan Wang tracking ships have already been deployed worldwide. The latest development is that the data from NASA Goddard Center for 3 newly tracked objects (catalogued as 1999-061) is consistent with a Jiuquan launch at GMT 2230.

• [November 20, 1999] China Offers India Launch Opportunity
  China would launch India's Insat-3 satellites for a lower price than Arianespace, Liu Zhixiong, vice president of the China Great Wall Industry Corporation, told the Press Trust of India Thursday. The offer would likely be considered by India's government. More launch options would give India greater flexibility when arranging launch schedules, and possibly lower costs. According to one Indian official, relations between the two Asian countries' space programs have improved recently. (Space.com)

• [November 17, 1999] China to Launch the Unmanned Spaceship Within Weeks
  China will be ready to launch its first unmanned space ship before the end of the year, the Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po said Monday. The newspaper quoted unidentified Beijing experts as saying the spacecraft would be launched from the Jiuquan launch centre in Gansu province by a Long March 2F rocket.

• [November 17, 1999] ApStar 2R Renamed
  Loral Space & Communications announced that its Loral Orion satellites have been renamed. The Apstar 2R is renamed as Telstar 10/Apstar IIR. The transponder payload of Apstar 2R is leased by Loral Orion from APT Satellite Company Ltd. for the life of the satellite. The new names combine the Loral Orion satellites under a single, well-recognized identity for Loral's growing constellation of high-powered satellites, offering fixed satellite services (FSS) communications coverage around the world. (BUSINESS WIRE)

• [November 8, 1999] New Space Center in Beijing
  China Space News, a Chinese space newspaper, reported on Saturday that China has built a new, large-scale space center in Beijing. Beijing Space Technology Research and Test Center is located in Tangjialing, northwest of Beijing, and occupies about 100 hectares in area. The center was broken ground in October 1994 and finished the Phase I construction in June 1998. As the largest space center in China, it includes spacecraft integration hangars, space environment and vibration test facilities, and a series of laboratories. Several satellites has been integrated and tested in the center and will be followed by a number of larger and more advanced spacecrafts. The report did not mention the manned program but the new center is very likely the rumored "space city" for the Project 921.

• [November 5, 1999] China's Manned Program on Schedule
  China confirmed the manned program again. "The program is proceeding on schedule and we do not see anything in the way. So long as the finances are in place, we can launch at our convience". said Luo Ge, Director General of Foreign Affairs of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) at the International Space Business Assembly in Washington D.C. When asked "Is China's manned spacecraft based upon Russia's Soyuz spacecraft?", Luo replied that "the spacecraft was designed, developed, and produced by ourselves." Luo did not give the detail or the timetable of the manned program. (NASA Watch)

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