Go Taikonauts!

Shenzhou History

by Chen Lan


Pre-Shenzhou Studies

China’s manned space program can be traced back to 1960s. The Chinese began initial studies on manned spaceflight in 1966, just five years after Gagarin’s historic flight. It became a serious program when China’s first satellite launched into space in April 1970. On July 14, 1970, Chairman Mao approved the country’s first manned space program, codenamed Project 714. China's first manned spacecraft, called “Shuguang (Dawn) 1", was a two-man Gemini-like capsule. Although 19 taikonaut trainees were selected and some equipments were developed, the spacecraft never left the drawing board. As a victim of the Lin Biao event, the program was suspended immediately and then totally abandoned in late 1970s when China decided to shift its space priorities to more practical applications, such as communication satellites.

In 1986, China started a national strategic high-tech development program, Program 863. Space technology, coded 863-2, is one of its six research areas. In November 1986, two study directions in the space field were identified and two expert groups were established. The first was for a heavy launch vehicle and manned space transportation system (code 863-204), and the other for a manned space station system (code 863-205). Manned spaceflight again got a chance.

During 1986 to 1988, the 863-204 space transportation program attracted numerous organizations from Chinese space industry, academy and educational systems. By June 1988, six proposals were reviewed by the 863-204 expert group. They are:

Multi-purpose spaceship

Proposed by CAST(Chinese Academy of Space Technology), it is a non-reusable capsule-type spacecraft. It was to be launched by expendable launchers, in a way similar to the Soviet (now Russian) Soyuz. Its first launch was targeted by 2000.

Mini shuttle with main engine

Named as Chang Cheng 1 (Great Wall 1), it was jointly proposed by SAST (Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology) and Institute 604 of the Ministry of Aeronautics. The shuttle would be launched by expendable launchers vertically and inserted into orbit by its main engines at final ascend stage. Its first launch was targeted around 2008.

Mini shuttle without main engine

Named as Tian Jiao 1 (Outstanding in Space), it was proposed by CALT (China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology). Aerodynamically it is a 1:6 scaled down US shuttle. Without the main engine, it would be launched vertically by expendable launchers and would take 15 years to develop.

Fully reusable space plane

Designated as V-2, it was proposed by the 11th Institute of the Ministry of Aeronautics, in Beijing. It is a two-stage to orbit, vertical take-off and horizontal landing system. Both the booster stage and the orbital stage are winged. The orbital stage has its own engines. Its first launch was targeted around 2015.

Aerospace plane/Mini shuttle

Designated as H-2, it was proposed by Institute 601 of the Ministry of Aeronautics. The two-stage system includes a large aerospace plane and a small orbiter. The aerospace plane would use its air-breathing engines to accelerate the combination to hypersonic. Its first launch was also targeted around 2015.

Hermes derived shuttle

It was proposed by Institute 611 of the Ministry of Aeronautics. As the institute was working on cooperative aeronautics projects with international partners that time, it proposed to transfer or license technologies directly from other countries (presumably European countries).

In July 1988, two proposals, the CALT mini-shuttle and the CAST capsule were selected from the six. However debates on shuttle vs. capsule continued. Consensus of developing a capsule type spacecraft as the first step was reached around July 1989 when the final report of the 863-204 space transportation system study was completed. In October 1990, another report on the manned space program by the Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC), a famous Chinese think tank, was completed and submitted to the government. The report included conclusions of the 863-204 studies as well as comprehensive analysis on political, economical and financial analysis. Unfortunately they did not echo an immediate political decision and further studies and lobbying had to continue.

Then, in January 1991, the Ministry of Aerospace established the manned space program team headed by Liu Jiyuan. Its objective was to continue technical evaluation so as to influence political decisions. In February 1991, Liu Jiyuan submitted a meeting memo on the manned program to the Chinese leadership. After that, there were fast progresses. Chinese leaders, including President Jiang Zemin and the Premier Li Peng, expressed their support on the memo (see right picture). Li Peng met experts in March. Extensive studies on program definition, short-term and long-term objectives, organizational and financial issues were done in later 1991 and early 1992. Several batches of Russian exports were invited to China to take lectures and 20 young engineers went to Russia for short-term studies.

During this period, CAST studied three spacecraft designs: the Soyuz-like three-module configuration, the “hard tunnel” three-module configuration (the reentry module is at top, with an external tunnel to the middle-placed orbital module), and the two-module configuration (without the orbital module). At the same time, CALT and SAST also proposed their own three-module designs. The CALT design has a large independent orbital module, which was first proposed by Ren Xinmin, a senior space scientist, around 1987. In November 1991, CAST, CALT and SAST submitted their spacecraft designs. It was decided that the final capsule design would be the three-module configuration with an orbital module that would be able to work independently for 180 days.

 

Full Scale Development

On September 21, 1992, the Chinese government formally approved the manned space program, the Project 921, kicking off an 11-year long full scale (phase one) development. In 1994, the spacecraft was formally named Shenzhou (Divine Vessel). The 1992 plan demanded a three-phase implementation of the whole manned program:

Phase One plan called for launch of the first unmanned spaceship in 1998, or as late as in 1999, and three unmanned launches before the first manned spaceflight by 2002.

Project 921 includes seven independent systems. They are:

Chief designer of the Project 921 is Wang Yongzhi, a student of Vasili Mishin.

Although China has accumulated considerable experiences on FSW recoverable satellites, the new manned spacecraft is larger, more complicated, and requires higher reliability. It was a real challenge, especially for the reentry module. It has already been decided to adopt a Soyuz-like aerodynamic shape for the capsule before approval of Project 921. Based on this basic model, CAST then developed 9 variations in three types and determined the final design after a series of numeric analysis, computer simulation and wind tunnel tests. Also, 18 key technical issues were identified and their studies started quite early. One of these was thermal protection near portholes. Chinese engineers went to Russia to test in the U-15T-1 arc-jet plasma wind tunnel in TsNIIMash in the summer of 1995, 1998 and 1999. Engineering development began in August 1995. However, welding, deformation control and sealing of the reentry module met a series of difficulties. Development of the propulsion module by SAST also encountered many problems. Throughout tremendous efforts, by end of 1998, they managed to deliver four ground models: two structural models, one thermal control model, and one electrical test model that later became Shenzhou 1.

In contrast, CZ-2F launcher development was relatively smooth as the existing CZ-2E was a sound basis. The main focus was on improving its subsystems with new components, new software, and redundant systems to increase its reliability to 97%. However, development of the launch escape system including the four aerodynamic stabilizers on the shroud (the so-called “lattice wing” by Chinese), were more difficult. It is reported that Russian put a price tag of 10 million US dollar for the “lattice wing”, which forced Chinese to develop its own. On the other side, initial escape motor tests in April and August 1995 continued to fail. It was not until April 1997 that the test fire got first success. In mid 1996, the shroud was found to be overweight by over 900kg. It was later overcome by reducing it by 400kg and at the same time increasing motor thrust. On October 19, 1998, a complete escape tower with a simulated spacecraft was successfully test launched. It was a milestone in the program history.

At the same time progress was also being made on other systems. Major new facilities were built in mid and later 1990s, including the new launch facility in JSLC, the main and backup landing zones in Inner Mongolia, the Yuan Wang 4 tracking ship, the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center, as well as many testing facilities, the latter including China’s largest 12m diameter thermal vacuum chamber KM-6.

Meanwhile, according to the agreement signed with the Russian government in 1993, two Chinese pilots were trained in Russia's Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City between October 1996 to later 1997. And, throughout strict and complicated selection procedures from end of 1995 to end of 1997, 12 formal taikonauts were selected. In early 1998, the 14 strong taikonaut group was established and began training for China’s first manned spaceflight. In July 1999, they went to Russia to carry out weightless training on the IL-76 zero gravity plane.

Total spending on the program from 1992 to 2003 is about 18 billion RMB Yuan (USD 2.1 billion), among which 10 billion was spent on infrastructures. One unmanned launch costs about 800 million Yuan (a little less than USD 100 million) while the manned Shenzhou 5 is about one billion Yuan (USD 120 million).

 

Shenzhou 1

Shenzhou 1, the first unmanned spaceship, is actually originally unplanned. In 1999, the first CZ-2F was ready to fly and its planned payload would have been a dummy. As Shenzhou development was behind schedule and the 1999 deadline was getting closer, a risky but crucial decision was made -- to refurbish the ground electrical test model to a flight prototype. The Shenzhou 1 spacecraft was in fact incomplete but the bottom line is to guarantee safe return of the capsule, which means both the reentry module and the propulsion module should be almost complete. Its orbital module has neither working solar panels nor life support system.

Refurbishing and testing a ground test model to a flight-ready spacecraft in short time was a challenge. There were even major problems months before the launch. In October 1999, a gyro problem was found and the heat shield had to be taken off to allow examination and repair. Fortunately the risky job was done smoothly.

At 6:30 November 20, 1999 (all times Beijing Time), Shenzhou 1 was successfully launched by the first CZ-2F rocket, fulfilling the target set in 1992. Shenzhou 1 entered an initial orbit of about 200x330km with an inclination of 42.6 degree. The spacecraft orbited the Earth 14 times and no maneuvers were performed. It successfully returned to the Earth at 3:41 on November 21.

Although launch and landing seemed perfect, the flight was not all smooth. At the third to last orbit, the retrofire command failed to be injected into the computer on the spacecraft. A retry on the second to last orbit also failed. Fortunately, the spacecraft finally got the command on its last orbit, which probably saved the whole program.

Shenzhou 1 carried no major scientific payloads inside its modules. There were seeds, covers, flags and other commemorations in the reentry capsule. It is noticed that on top of the orbital module there was an external package with three antenna-like pods that China never revealed its purpose.

 

Shenzhou 2

Shenzhou 2 would have been the first of three unmanned spaceship and became the first fully equipped spacecraft. Compared to the Shenzhou 1, it had a fully-functional orbital module and many improvements on all three modules.

Shenzhou 2 was to be launched on January 5, 2001. However, a movable platform in the VAB unexpectedly hit the CZ-2F launcher on December 31, causing a large visible depression on the second stage. The accident delayed the launch immediately. After 10 days of inspections and testing, engineers confirmed no serious damages on either the launcher or spacecraft. The spaceship was finally launched into space at 1:00 on January 10, 2001.

Shenzhou 2 flew 7 days, orbiting the Earth 108 times in a “standard Shenzhou orbit” that includes a major maneuver from the initial ~200x330km orbit to a ~330km circular orbit some 21 hours (or 7 hours for later Shenzhou missions) after launch. Once the reentry capsule returned to the Earth, the orbital module fired it own engine, maneuvered itself to a higher ~390x400km orbit to continue working for six months until its natural decay on August 21, 2001. There were several major maneuvers during its working period.

The biggest mystery of Shenzhou 2 was its landing. The landing at 19:22 on January 16, 2001 was reportedly successful. However, unlike Shenzhou 1, the Chinese have not released any photographs of the reentry capsule. This raised rumors that the parachute system was with troubles and the capsule had a “hard landing”. Separately, it is known that one and half hour before landing, the spacecraft’s attitude lost stability because of depressurization of the orbital module, a necessary step to guarantee safety when separation explosive bolts work. Fortunately the spacecraft was still in control. It recovered stability when depressurization completed.

Shenzhou 2 carried 64 experiments, 15 of which were in the reentry capsule and 12 in the orbital module. 37 experiments or instruments were installed on the exterior of the orbital module. On top of the orbital module, there was still the 3-pod package. Many of the scientific results from Shenzhou 2 experiments have been published.

Shenzhou 3

Shenzhou 3 was marked as the first “man-ready” spacecraft. It was the first one to be launched with a fully-functional escape tower and a dummy taikonaut. Although status changes on the spacecraft are less than Shenzhou 2, the interval between Shenzhou 2 and Shenzhou 3 launches was longer -- 16 months. This was, in fact, the result of a rare rollback in Chinese space history.

In January 2002, during the pre-launch checkout, an electrical connector on the rocket was found failed. A decision was made to rollback the launcher, disassemble it, transport it back to Beijing, and replace all its connectors. In Beijing, ten flaws on the Shenzhou 3 spacecraft were also detected and corrected. Three months later, Shenzhou 3 was launched smoothly at 22:15 on May 25, 2002.

Shenzhou 3 flight was by then the smoothest one. It repeated the Shenzhou 2 profile and landed perfectly at 16:51 on April 1, 2002. China immediately released the landing photos.

According to reports, Shenzhou 3 carried 44 scientific payloads, the most notable being a medium-resolution imaging spectroradiometer developed by Chinese Academy of Sciences. It was installed on top of the orbital module and replaced the old mystery package.

 

Shenzhou 4

Shenzhou 4 was an identical copy of Shenzhou 3 and, for the first time, the escape tower was in active status during launch. The objective of the Shenzhou 4 was to have the final rehearsal for the manned Shenzhou 5 flight.

Shenzhou 4 was launched at 0:40 on December 30, 2002, at temperature of -18.5°C. It set a record of lowest launch temperature in Chinese space history. The successful launch relieved concerns of possible impacts by the weeklong cold weather with lowest temperature down to -27°C.

Shenzhou 4 carried 52 scientific payloads including a microwave radiometer using a reflector antenna, installed on top of the orbital module. Similar to Shenzhou 2 and Shenzhou 3, it flew for 7 days and landed in Inner Mongolia at 19:16 on January 5, 2003.

Shenzhou 4 flight was so successful that very soon after the flight, China announced that the Shenzhou 5 flight would take place in less than one year.

 

Shenzhou 5

Just one year behind the planned deadline set in 1992, at 9:00 on October 15, 2003, Shenzhou 5, China’s first manned spacecraft, lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, a place at that time was extensively photographed by satellites in space. 21 hours and 23 minutes later, the reentry capsule landed in Siziwangqi, Inner Mongolia at 6:23 on October 16. Yang Liwei became the first Chinese citizen in space and China became only the third nation to launch a human into space.

Shenzhou 5 flight proved so smooth that Yang Liwei was more like a passenger than a pilot. The only disclosed flaw was that digital video transmission during launch was interfered and people in the control room were unable to see Yang on the screen from minutes after the liftoff until communication was reestablished by the next tracking station. Chinese and international media have extensive coverage on this mission.

To safe guard the main objective – sending a man into space and bringing him safely back – Shenzhou 5 carried no scientific experiments in either the reentry or orbital modules, except for some seeds from Taiwan, flags and other commemorative material. On the orbital module, a pair of large optical cameras was installed on top and side. Ground resolution of the camera was reportedly 1.6m. Shenzhou 5 orbital module continued to work for 6 months and decayed on May 30, 2004.

 

References

  1. Shi Lei, Declassify Secrete Documents of Chinese Manned Space Program, Aerospace World, Issue 23, 2003

  2. Shi Lei, Fang Fei Shen Zhou, China Machine Press, Beijing, 2003

  3. Zhu Zengyi, Fei Tian Meng Yuan, Huayi Publishing House, Beijing, 2003

  4. Zhong Guo Fei Tian Ji, Guangming Daily Press, Beijing, 2003

Picture credit: CAST, Raumfahrt Concret, CCTV, CEAV, Aerospace World

(Edited versions of this article were published on the April, 2005 issue of  Spaceflight and issue 3, 2004 of Raumfahrt Concret)

 

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