Shenzhou

Project Summary

In 1992, China's president approved the start of a manned spaceflight program that, if successful, would make China the third nation to launch humans into space. According to British space expert Phillip Clark, the project, code named Project 921, uses a modified version of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that is heavier, has four (instead of two) solar panels, and a cylindrical (instead of spherical) forward module. In November 1999, the Chinese launched a successful unmanned test of their manned spacecraft, named Shenzhou (which means "magic vessel" but whose Chinese written characters sound the same as the word for "China"). The Chinese plan several more unmanned tests, with a first manned flight coming on October 15, 2003. Incidentally, the Chinese refer to their astronauts as "taikonauts," which is based on the Chinese word for "space." China's first taikonaut was Lt. Col. Yang Liwei, who orbited the Earth 14 times during his almost 1-day flight aboard Shenzhou 1. Yang was one of 14 taikonauts in training that were selected in 1998. China promised additional manned flights, including the eventual development of their own space station. The first step in making that space station a reality came in September 2011, with the launch of the Tiangong 1 space lab module.

Missions Flown

                                 # of Flt.                          
  Date       Spacecraft Name     Crew Days       Mission/Payload     
-------- ----------------------- ---- ----  --------------------------
Manned Flight Details 1

11/21/99 Shenzhou 1                -     1  Unmanned test flight      
01/09/01 Shenzhou 2                -     7  Carried small animals     
03/26/02 Shenzhou 3                -     7  Unmanned test flight      
12/30/02 Shenzhou 4                -     ?  Unmanned test flight      
10/15/03 Shenzhou 5                1     1  Manned flight             
10/12/05 Shenzhou 6                2     5  Manned flight             
09/25/08 Shenzhou 7                3     3  Manned flight/Spacewalk   
09/29/11 Tiangong 1                -     -  Prototype space lab module
11/01/11 Shenzhou 8                -     -  Unmanned Tiangong docking 
06/16/12 Shenzhou 9                3    13  Manned Tiangong mission   

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Last Updated: June 29, 2012