China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Spacecraft completes manual docking
Country able to assemble a space station by 2020, expert says
The Shenzhou X spacecraft completed a manual docking with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space module on Sunday, the last docking maneuver before China’s manned space program enters the space lab stage.
Carrying three astronauts, the spacecraft was manually separated from Tiangong-1 at 8:26 am on Sunday, according to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.
Piloted by the crew commander Nie Haisheng, the manned spacecraft approached the Tiangong-1, made contact with it at 10 am, and the two were locked together at 10:07 am.
The other two crew members, Zhang Xiaoguang and female astronaut Wang Yaping, assisted Nie by monitoring instruments and making sure the craft was on target.
The manual docking on Sunday is the country’s second, following a successful manual docking between the manned Shenzhou IX spacecraft and Tiangong-1 in 2012.
Previously, the unmanned Shenzhou VIII spacecraft had conducted two robotic dockings with Tiangong-1 in 2011. Shenzhou IX and Shenzhou X have each completed a robotic docking with the space module.
Multiple docking experiments were arranged to confirm China has mastered the space rendezvous and docking technologies, because each docking attempt between two vessels moving at 28,000 kilometers per hour could have different results due to the changing space environment, space experts said.
China is the third country to independently master the space rendezvous and docking technology, after the United States and Russia.
“China has now accomplished one and a half steps in its three-step manned space program,” said Qi Faren, the first chief engineer of the Shenzhou spacecraft, at a science lecture targeting young people in Beijing on Friday.
Only two more vital technologies need to be conquered before the country is able to assemble a space station by 2020, he said.
“One is a space freighter that sends fuel and cargo up but does not return to Earth. The other is the technology to recycle water, air and other necessities that can meet astronauts’ needs in long-duration missions in space,” he said.
Zhou Jianping, chief designer of the manned space program, said in March that China will launch the Tiangong-2 space lab in two years, and a space freighter will be launched after that to conduct a fueling experiment with the space lab.
Launched on June 11 from Northwest China’s Gobi Desert, the Shenzhou X is scheduled to return to Earth on Wednesday.
On Sunday, after the manual docking between the Shenzhou X spacecraft and the Tiangong-1 module, the three astronauts entered the space module again to carry out scientific experiments.
According to earlier media reports, the 15-day mission also includes an experiment in which the Shenzhou X flies around the Tiangong-1 module, as the future assembly of a space station requires a vessel to dock with the orbiting module from more than one direction.