China has announced that it will launch its fourth unmanned Shenzhou spacecraft on New Year鈥檚 day 2003. If successful, the launch should be the final test before Chinese astronauts are blasted into orbit.
Zhang Qingwei, president of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, told reporters at the Communist Party Congress in Beijing on Tuesday that Shenzhou IV would launch on 1 January with the same functionality as a manned craft.
鈥淚f the test flight of Shenzhou IV is successful, I can envision that a manned space flight is just around the corner,鈥� Qinqwei told the newspaper People鈥檚 Daily. 鈥淭he space vessel itself and its carrier rocket are not that different from their precursors. But the new spacecraft boasts the most complete systems needed for manned mission.鈥�
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Qingwei also said that the next Shenzhou IV would carry a dummy crew into orbit, as did Shenzhou III, which was launched in March 2002. The dummy crew was fitted with sensors designed to test life support systems, such as temperature and oxygen control systems.
The inhabitable module of this spacecraft landed in Inner Mongolia a week after launch but another section was left in orbit for 60 days.
Black out
James Oberg, veteran of the US space programme and an independent space analyst, says China is taking a giant step by developing their first spacecraft to have capabilities comparable to Russia鈥檚 Soyuz family.
鈥淭hey are not going for a primitive capability, they鈥檙e basically aiming for a Soyuz or Apollo capability straight off the bat,鈥� he told New Scientist.
The first Shenzhou was launched in November 1999. Shenzhou II was then launched in January 2001 but a media blackout was imposed in China after its landing, prompting speculation that it had crashed.
A target date for the first manned mission has not been set and Qingwei said much would depend on this next flight. He added that 14 potential astronauts have undergone training involving Shenzhou craft.
China has made clear that it plans to become only the third nation in the world to rocket humans into space, after the US and Russia. In April 2002 government officials said that China also hopes to eventually launch an orbiting space station although a scheduled was not revealed.
Science module
Oberg thinks a basic orbiting science module could be the first step, and that the Shenzhou III component left in orbit for 60 days may have been a prototype. 鈥淭hey have made some ingenious designs that would allow them to carry up a scientific module and leave it there,鈥� he says.
Oberg adds that the orbits chosen for previous Shenzhou missions do not indicate an intention to dock with the International Space Station.
China is also reported to be constructing a second launch pad and a 鈥渕anned complex鈥� at the Jiuquan space centre in the Gansu province, northwest China, the site of all Shenzhou launches.