Fwd: Three Chinese Astronauts Dock to Nation's Space Station

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Date: June 16, 2013 1:50:51 PM GMT-06:00
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Subject: Fw: Three Chinese Astronauts Dock to Nation's Space Station

 

 

Shenzhou-10 completes automated docking with space module

 

English.news.cn   2013-06-13 15:42:19

 

Photo taken on June 13, 2013 shows the screen at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center showing a simulated picture of an automated docking between the Shenzhou-10 manned spacecraft and the orbiting Tiangong-1 space module. China's Shenzhou-10 manned spacecraft successfully completed an automated docking with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space module at 1:18 p.m. Thursday. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

In pictures: Shenzhou-10 docks with space module

BEIJING, June 13 (Xinhua) -- China's Shenzhou-10 manned spacecraft successfully completed an automated docking procedure with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space module at 1:18 p.m. Thursday, according to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

The docking procedure was the fifth to take place between Shenzhou-type spacecraft and the space module. Previous dockings include two automated operations by the unmanned Shenzhou-8 in 2011 and both an automated and manual docking by the manned Shenzhou-9 in 2012.

The Shenzhou-10, which was launched Tuesday afternoon from northwest China's Gobi desert, began to approach the Tiangong-1 automatically at 10:48 a.m. Thursday and made contact with the space module at 1:11 p.m..

Three astronauts aboard the Shenzhou monitored and reported the docking operation to the control center.

According to their mission schedule, the astronauts will enter the space module later and carry out scientific and technical experiments.

The Shenzhou-10 is China's fifth manned spacecraft and it is the first application-orientated flight under China's space program since the country introduced its manned space program in 1992.

The astronauts are scheduled to conduct a manual docking with the space module during their 15-day journey in space, as well as give a lecture to Earth-bound students.

China is the third country after the United States and Russia to acquire the technologies and skills necessary for space rendezvous and docking procedures, as well as supply manpower and material for an orbiting module via different docking methods.

The Tiangong-1 space lab has been in orbit for about 620 days. It will remain in service for another three months.

The module is considered the first step in building a permanent space station, which the country aims to do by 2020.

Copyright ©2013 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.

 

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Three Chinese Astronauts Dock to Nation's Space Station

by Miriam Kramer, SPACE.com Staff Writer

13 June 2013 Time: 11:29 AM ET

 

 

 

China's three Shenzhou 10 astronauts wave to the camera after entering the Tiangong 1 module. Image released June 13, 2013. CREDIT: Xinhua/Wang Yongzhuo View full size image

This story was updated at 2:16 p.m. ET.

A Chinese space capsule carrying a crew of three docked with the nation's orbiting space module today (June 13), two days after launch.

State media reports that Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping — the second female Chinese astronaut to fly in space — automatically docked their Shenzhou 10 spacecraft to the Tiangong 1 module at 1:11 a.m. EDT (0511 GMT). The astronauts entered the orbiting module at 4:17 a.m. EDT (0817 GMT), beginning a 12-day stint onboard the space laboratory.

At 15 days in space, this mission is scheduled to be the longest spaceflight for a Chinese crew in the history of the country's space program.

A look inside China's Tiangong 1 space lab, which launched into orbit in September 2011.
CREDIT: Dragon in Space

View full size image

"The Shenzhou 10 spacecraft has been successfully launched and precisely put into orbit, which means that our country's fifth manned space mission has succeeded in the first phase," said China's president, Xi Jinping, according to state-run news agency Xinhua. "At this very moment, I am sharing the same feeling with everyone. I am very happy and excited."

During their time on Tiangong 1 (also known as the Heavenly Palace 1), the spaceflyers will dock their spacecraft to the module once more using manual docking procedures and perform experiments. The crew is also expected to send down a science lesson to Chinese school children on Earth at some point during their stay.

Shenzhou 10 is the last of three missions designed to help master space-based docking and rendezvous technology, officials have said.

The mission is expected to help the Chinese space agency gain necessary experience that can be applied to building and operating a larger space station by 2020. The eventual 90 ton orbiting station will have three capsules: a core unit and two laboratories, according to Xinhua.

Tiangong 1 has orbited Earth since Sept. 2011, and is scheduled to remain operational for another three months. Eight other Chinese astronauts flew in space before the Shenzhou 10 mission, with the first crew docking to the module in June 2012.

China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, was sent to orbit in 2003, making China the third nation — after Russia and the United States — to launch astronauts to space using its own vehicles.

Editor's Note: This story was updated to correct the docking time from 1:18 EDT, to 1:11 EDT. (The latches between the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft and the Tiangong 1 module were secured at 1:18 EDT). This story was also updated to reflect the fact that eight Chinese astronauts have flown in space.

 

Copyright © 2013 TechMediaNetwork.com All rights reserved.

 

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Shenzhou 10 docks with Chinese space lab in orbit
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
June 13, 2013

China's Shenzhou 10 spacecraft flew an automated rendezvous with the Tiangong 1 space lab Thursday, docking with the prototype space station and delivering three astronauts for nearly two weeks of experiments.

Image of the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft captured from video recorded at the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center. Credit: CCTV/Xinhua
 
The manned space capsule docked with Tiangong 1 at 0511 GMT (1:11 a.m. EDT; 1:11 p.m. Beijing time) and mechanisms pulled the two spacecraft together for tight seal seven minutes later, according to a report by China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

Shenzhou 10's three astronauts - commander Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping - were expected to enter Tiangong 1 through a 31-inch-diameter passageway later Thursday.

The astronauts have a busy schedule of medical, physiological and technology experiments over the next 12 days aboard Tiangong 1 before departing the mini-space station and returning to Earth, closing out a 15-day flight in orbit.

Wang, a 33-year-old Chinese military transport pilot and China's second female astronaut, will give a lecture in physics and science to Chinese students sometime during the mission.

Thursday's automated rendezvous began at 0248 GMT (10:48 p.m. EDT; 10:48 a.m. Beijing time). The Shenzhou 10 craft used laser and radar sensors to guide itself to Tiangong 1's docking port, where the spacecraft linked together with a docking system similar to the Russian-designed APAS system, which was used in the joint U.S.-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the assembly of the Russian space station Mir and by space shuttles visiting the International Space Station.

Artist's concept of the Tiangong 1 and Shenzhou 10 spacecraft docked in orbit. Credit: CASC
 
Chinese officials previously stated the Shenzhou 10 mission would pioneer a new path to docking, approaching Tiangong 1 from underneath instead from behind.

Thursday's docking was not broadcast on Chinese state television - a break from previous precedent - so the rendezvous profile could not be confirmed.

Later in Shenzhou 10's mission, the crew will temporarily depart Tiangong 1 and approach the space lab a second time under manual control. Nie, Shenzhou 10's 48-year-old veteran commander, will pilot the spacecraft to a second docking with Tiangong 1.

When docked together, the vehicles form a pairing stretching more than 60 feet long and up to 13 feet in diameter, bigger than a double-decker bus. The combo has an interior habitable volume of about 700 cubic feet.

Tiangong 1, which launched in 2011, controls the orientation of the docked complex with six gyroscopes, and the two craft share electrical resources generated by solar arrays.

Shenzhou 10 blasted off aboard a Long March 2F rocket on Tuesday from China's Jiuquan space base - a launching center in China's northwestern Gobi desert.

China says the mission is scheduled to last 15 days, and Shenzhou 10 would become the country's longest spaceflight since becoming the third nation to launch humans into space in 2003.

The Shenzhou 10 mission's objectives will advance China's ambition to construct a large 200-ton space station in low Earth orbit by 2020, practicing orbital rendezvous techniques, testing life support systems and proving other technologies required to sustain crews in space for long-duration flights.  

 

© 2013 Spaceflight Now Inc.

 

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