Space fliers rack up firsts for China

By Tariq Malik

updated 8:14 p.m. ET Oct. 12, 2005

After one day in space, the two astronauts aboard China’s Shenzhou 6 spacecraft already have racked up a series of firsts for their country’s space program, not the least of which began with leaving their seats.

Circling the Earth in a 213-mile (343-kilometer) orbit, Chinese astronauts Fei Julong and Nie Haisheng conducted a day of observation and science in the orbital module of their Shenzhou 6 spacecraft, according to state media reports.

The two astronauts, both former fighter pilots, launched into space on China’s second manned spaceflight at 9 a.m. Wednesday (9 p.m. ET Tuesday). The astronauts are slated to spend up to five days in space during their mission.

The flight is aimed at demonstrating China’s space prowess — the country is only the third nation to independently launch a human into orbit — as well as the prestige of its communist government. Shenzhou 5, China’s first manned spaceflight, launched astronaut Yang Liwei on a 21 1/2-hour mission on Oct. 15, 2003.

Orbital module debut
Nine hours after the successful launch, Fei unstrapped himself from his chair and floated into Shenzhou 6’s orbital module, and later switched positions with Nie, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported.

The crew’s movements marked another step in China’s human spaceflight efforts. While Fei worked in the orbital module, Nie used a digital camera to take photographs of the flight, Xinhua reported. Both astronauts were to have taken off their 22-pound (10-kilogram) spacesuits.

“It suggests that the orbital module is functioning as expected, and that’s good,” Dean Cheng, a China space specialist with CNA Corp. in Arlington, Va., told Space.com Wednesday. “It certainly means that the Shenzhou is going to be able to keep its crew occupied.”

During the Shenzhou 5 mission, Yang spent the entire time strapped into his chair in the spacecraft’s crew compartment.

“This second mission expands on [China’s] ability to test life support systems,” said Joan Johnson-Freese, who follows China’s space efforts and chairs of the National Security Studies at the United States Naval War College in Newport, R.I. “Now they’ve established that [Shenzhou 5] was not a one-time deal.”

New systems and equipment
China’s Shenzhou spacecraft borrow their basic design from Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft but are tailored with new systems and equipment. They consist of a primary crew-carrying re-entry module, an orbital module and a service module.

Shenzhou 6’s orbital module reportedly contains experiments and equipment, a food heater and other new equipment to be tested on this flight. It carries its own solar arrays and could stay in Earth orbit for a prolonged period, experts say.

Johnson-Freese told Space.com that Shenzhou 6 pushes China past its first phase of space development and on a path that could likely lead to more sophisticated demonstrations, including spacewalks and dockings and ultimately a hookup of its orbital modules into a flying space lab.

“I think we’ll find out in due course [whether] they are going to detach from the orbital module and undertake a few maneuvers while they are still in orbit,” Cheng said of the Shenzhou 6 crew, adding that he does not expect a docking demonstration for this flight. “That would be remarkably ambitious for a second flight.”

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