China Manned Space Program
The China Manned Space Program, also known as Project 921 is a space program developed by the People's Republic of China and run by the China Manned Space Agency under the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission, designed to develop and enhance human spaceflight capabilities for China. It was approved on 21 September 1992 and has been in operation ever since. The CMS commander and director are currently Xu Xueqiang and Zhou Jianping respectively; the latter has held this position since 2006, after taking over from Wang Yongzhi, who served as the first director from 1992 to 2006.
As one of the most complex programs within the Chinese space agency, CMS was split into "three steps":
- Crewed spacecraft launch and return
- Rendezvous and docking with a space laboratory
- Long-term modular space station
History
Formal research of China's human spaceflight began in 1968. An institute for medical and space engineering was founded in Beijing. It was the predecessor of The China Astronaut Research and Training Center, at which China's astronauts were trained in the following decades. Before that, in 1964, China launched a sounding rocket, carrying several small animals to an altitude of 70 km as an attempt to study the effects of spaceflight on living creatures.On 24 April 1970, China launched its first satellite, Dong Fang Hong I into orbit. In 1970, Qian Xuesen, the father of China's space program, introduced his human spaceflight project, which was later called Project 714. An early version of a crewed spacecraft called Shuguang I was under research. However, this program was cancelled due to a lack of funds and political interest. Instead, China decided in 1978 to pursue a method of sending astronauts into space using the more familiar FSW-derived ballistic reentry capsules. Two years later. in 1980, the Chinese government cancelled the program citing cost concerns.
In order to gain relative experience, China launched and recovered its first recoverable satellite, Fanhui Shi Weixing, on 26 November 1975. The success of the mission demonstrated China's capabilities of controlled atmospheric entry.
In 1986, the 863 Program was funded by the Chinese government. It was intended to stimulate the development of science and technologies in several key areas, in which space capabilities were included.
The Chinese human spaceflight program, formally titled the China Manned Space Program, was formally approved on September 21, 1992, by the Standing Committee of Politburo as Project 921, with work beginning on 1 January 1993. The initial plan has three steps:
- First Step: Launch a crewed spaceship with the aim of building up the fundamental capability in human space exploration and space experiments.
- Second Step: Launch a space laboratory tasked with making technological breakthroughs for extravehicular activities, space rendezvous and spacecraft docking procedures, as well as providing a solution for man-tended space utilization on a certain scale and short-term basis.
- Third Step: Establish a Space Station with the aim of providing a solution for human-tended -space utilization on a larger scale and longer-term basis.
In 1994, China signed a cooperation agreement with Russia to purchase aerospace technologies. In 1995, a deal was signed between the two countries for the transfer of Russian Soyuz spacecraft technology to China. Included in the agreement were schedules for astronaut training, provision of Soyuz capsules, life support systems, docking systems, and space suits. In 1996, two Chinese astronauts, Wu Jie and Li Qinglong, began training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia. After training, these men returned to China and proceeded to train other Chinese astronauts at sites near Beijing and Jiuquan.
The hardware and know-how purchased from Russia led to modifications of the original Step One spacecraft, later known called Shenzhou, roughly translated as "divine vessel". New launch facilities were built at the Jiuquan launch site in Inner Mongolia, and in the spring of 1998, a mock-up of the Long March 2F launch vehicle with Shenzhou spacecraft was rolled out for integration and facility tests.
Development
First Step
The development of Long March 2F, China's first human-rated launch vehicle, began in September 1992. It was derived from the Long March 2E, but with a launch escape system and control system redundancy.In December 1994, the first hot test fire of a human-rated rocket's engine was completed successfully.
In 1996, two pilots from the Air Force, Wu Jie and Li Qinglong, were handpicked and sent to Russia for training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre.
In January 1998, 14 pilots were selected as the first batch of Chinese astronaut candidates.
In November 1998, a new flight control center, Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center, was opened to support CMS missions. Also in that year, a new launch complex adapting the advanced "three verticals" strategy was put into service in Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to support CMS missions exclusively.
On 19 November 1999, Shenzhou 1, the first uncrewed Shenzhou spacecraft, was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and entered predetermined orbit. The ground electrical test model was used during this test flight to meet the deadline by the end of 1999. The return capsule of the spacecraft successfully separated with other parts and landed intact in Inner Mongolia the next day. Despite only limited systems being tested, the mission was still a successful test flight for the Shenzhou spacecraft and Long March 2F rocket.
The second test flight of Shenzhou occurred on 10 January 2001. Shenzhou 2, the first formal uncrewed spaceship of China, was launched into orbit and stayed for seven days before the return capsule separated. However, the parachutes failed to open upon re-entry, which resulted in hard-landing.
In 2002, China launched Shenzhou 3 and Shenzhou 4; both ended in success.
The fifth launch, Shenzhou 5, was the first to carry a human and occurred at 01:00:00 UTC on 15 October 2003. At 587 seconds after taking off, the spaceship separated from the rocket and entered an elliptical orbit with an inclination of 42.4°, the perigee height of 199.14 km and the apogee height of 347.8 km. Yang became the first Chinese launched into space with Chinese launch vehicle and spacecraft. At 22:23 UTC on 15 October 2003, the re-entry module landed safely in central Inner Mongolia. The whole mission lasted for 21 hours and 23 minutes, making China the third country capable of sending humans to space and back independently, after Russia and the United States.
The first "multi-person and multi-day" crewed space flight, Shenzhou 6, was conducted during 12–17 October 2005. Astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng spent more than 4 days in space and orbited the Earth for 76 orbits.
Second Step
The goal of the Second Step of CMS was to make technology breakthroughs in extravehicular activities as well as space rendezvous and docking to support short-term human activities in space. To complete the goal, China launched multiple crewed and uncrewed missions, including two prototypes of China's space station.Phase 1: EVA, space rendezvous and docking
On 25 September 2008, Shenzhou 7 was launched into space with three astronauts, Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng. During the flight, Zhai Zhigang and Liu Boming completed China's first EVA with the Feitian extravehicular space suit made in China and the Sea Hawk extravehicular space suit imported from Russia respectively.In order to practice space rendezvous and docking, China launched an target vehicle, Tiangong 1, in 2011 with a variant of Long March 2F, followed by Shenzhou 8, the first uncrewed Shenzhou spacecraft since Shenzhou 5. The two spacecraft performed China's first automatic rendezvous and docking on 3 November 2011, which verified the performance of docking procedures and mechanisms. About 9 months later, Tiangong 1 completed the first manual rendezvous and docking with Shenzhou 9, a crewed spacecraft carrying Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang and China's first female astronaut Liu Yang.
On 11 June 2013, crewed spacecraft Shenzhou 10 carrying astronauts Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping was launched into orbit and docked with Tiangong 1. The three astronauts spent 12 days in Tiangong 1 by conducting scientific experiments, giving lectures to over 60 million students in China, and performing more docking tests before returning to Earth safely. The completion of the missions from Shenzhou 6 to Shenzhou 10 demonstrated China's technical advancement in human spaceflight, ending phase 1 of the Second Step.
Phase 2: Space laboratory
To further enhance China's human spaceflight capabilities and make preparation for the construction of future space station, China launched the second phase of the Second Step, which consisted of four space laboratory missions.In June 2016, China conducted the maiden flight of Long March 7, a new generation medium-lift launch vehicle with higher payload capability to low Earth orbit, from the newly built Wenchang Space Launch Site located in the coastal Hainan Province.
In September 2016, Tiangong 2 was launched into orbit. It was a space laboratory with more advanced functions and equipment than Tiangong 1. A month later, Shenzhou 11 was launched and docked with Tiangong 2. Two astronauts, Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong entered Tiangong 2 and were stationed for about 30 days, breaking China's record for the longest human spaceflight mission while verifying the viability of astronauts' medium-term stay in space.
In April 2017, China's first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou 1 docked with Tiangong 2 and completed multiple in-orbit propellant refueling tests, which marked the successful completion of the Second Step of CMS.