Chinese Space News (October, 2003)

• [October 15, 2003] Yang Liwei Becomes the First Taikonaut
  Multiple media sources including Wen Wei Po and Lanzhou Morning Post have confirmed that Yang Liwei will be the first taikonaut. Yang is 38 years old and is from Liaoning Province. He became PLA pilot in 1983 and entered taikonaut traning group in 1993. Yang is married in 1990 and has a sister and a brother. According to Wen Wei Po, three taikonaut candidates (the others are Zhai Zhigang and Nie Haisheng) who entered last round of selection, attended the final news conference before launch last night.

• [October 15, 2003] Final Launch Preparation Update
  President Hu Jintao arrvied the launch site late October 14 and met taikonauts. He will also talk to the taikonaut in space during the flight. Weather condition in Jiuquan is said very good for the launch. The launch time is reportedly at 9:06am Beijing Time. It is confirmed that CCTV will not broatcast the launch to relief high pressures on space scentists. CCTV will replay it immediately after the successful launch.

• [October 14, 2003] CCTV Out. Phoenix TV In
  CCTV reportedly finally cancelled its plan to live broadcast the Shenzhou-5 mission. While the Hong Kong bsaed Phoenix TV suddenly announced that it will televise the mission on its Chinese Channel, InfoNews Channel and Europe/North America channel. According to the schedule released on its web site, it will broadcast the launch during  8:00 to 9:25 (Beijing Time) October 15, space-ground conversation during 17:10 to 18:25, landing during 6:00 to 7:00 October 16, and further landing activities during 8:00 to 9:25.

• [October 14, 2003] Hong Kong Newspaper Identifies First Taikonaut
  Wen Wei Po suggests that China's first taikonaut will likely be Yang Liwei who was born in 1965 and is from Liaoning province. Yang is at top of three candinates selected from the 14-member group. The others are Zhai Zhigang and Nie Haisheng. All three names are consistent with earlier revealed names by the German magazine Fliegerrevue. On the other side, Chinese official reports say that final decision on who will fly Shenzhou 5 will be made later today. Reports also say that the Shenzhou 5 taikonaut will stay in the re-entry module during the whole mission.

• [October 13, 2003] Shenzhou-5 Countdown Update
  According to latest reports by Sina.com, China's number one Internet portal, the authority will finally approve live TV coverage of Shenzhou-5 launch and landing by CCTV. The CZ-2F will soon start fueling that will take about 7 hours. The final decision on China's first taikonaut will be made tomorrow (October 14). He will enter the spacecraft 2.5 hour prior to the launch. Security in the launch site and the the nearby Dong Feng, the so-called "aerospace city", has been tighten. Journalists without invitation will not allowed to enter the site and to stay in Dong Feng. People from other places all over the nation are crowding to the site, though there are already at least more than one thousand of visitors in Dong Feng. Hotels in Dong Feng have already been fully booked a few days ago so that many meeting rooms have to be converted into hotel rooms. Temperature in the site was lowed to zero degree yesterday. But it will not affect the launch.

• [October 12, 2003] CZ-2F/SZ-5 Rolls Out
  China's first manned space flight moves one step close to reality when the CZ-2F/Shenzhou-5 rolled out yesterday.  At 10:05am October 11 Beijing Time, the mobile launch pad, with CF-2F and Shenzhou-5 on top of it, started its 1.5-km journey from the VAB to the launch tower. It took about one and half hour to reach the planned position. The launcher and the spacecraft will undertake the finnal round of testing and checkup before the launch. 

• [October 12, 2003] Latest SST News
  After years of silence, China announced today that the Solar Space Telescope(SST), China's Hubble Telescope as called by Chinese media, will be launched as planned in 2005. National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and China Academy of Space Technology has been jointly developing the telescope since July 2001. The two-tonne SST has an one-meter infrared telescope and will operate in space for 3 years.

• [October 11, 2003] CCTV Denies Live Broadcasting
  Lianhe Zaobao, a Singapore based Chinese language newspaper said that CCTV has no plan to broadcast Shenzhou-5 mission live. When asked about the rumors, director of CCTV News Department said that CCTV has never made such annuncement and the rumor is not true. A CCTV staff from the News Channel said that they still have not received any instructions for the broadcasting. Lianhe Zaobao also reported that China will reject visits to Jiuqiu by international journalists.

• [October 10, 2003] China Officially Announces Launch of Shenzhou-5
  According to the latest Xinhua report, the cheif of the China Manned Space Flight Office announces in Beijing today that China will make its first manned space flight during October 15-17. The Shenzhou-5 spacecraft will enter in an initial orbit of 200kmx350km and then raised to the 343km circular orbit. After 14 orbits around the earth, it will land in a planned area. The report sauys that launch preparation is so far very smooth.

• [October 10, 2003] Shenzhou-5 Rollout Tomorrow
  With Shenzhou-5 flight official announced, Chinese media are making more and more reports about the Shenzhou-5 flight, many of them are directly from Jiuquan. According to reports today, the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft was transported to the VAB(Vertical Assembly Building) and installed on top of the CZ-2F launcher on October 8. The combination will roll out tomorrow (October 11), to the launch pad 1.5km away from the VAB.

• [October 10, 2003] China Reveals Space Station Plan
  A Shenzhou scientist, Han Hongyin from Shanghai, said on Chinese media that China will launch a "long term man-occupied" space station by 2010. It is the third step of China's three stage manned space plan. The first step, from Shenzhou-1 to Shenzhou-5, is to put human in space. And the second stage is to perform scientific experiments on Shenzhou orbital modules, and test docking technology using orbital modules. Other Chinese reports of today indicate that Shenzhou-5 will carry a docking adapter that suggests another Shenzhou flight whithin 6 months. These latest reports further confirmed that China will use Shenzhou orbital modules to form a mini space station, or space laboratory as they called, as their "stage 2" objective.

• [October 10, 2003] First Taikonaut Group Selection Starts in 1996
  China's current 12 taikonauts were selected from a 30-member pre-taikonaut group, immediately after the Shenzhou-1 launch 1999. A Chinese newspaper, International Herald Leader, reported today. The 30 pre-taikonauts were selcted from thousands of PLA aircraft polits in 1996 when China decided to form its first Shenzhou taikonaut group. The report does not mention Li Qinglong and Wu Jie, trainers of the current taikonaut group and most possible candidates of the Shenzhou-5 flight. It seems that their selection and the decision of their train in Russia, are separate.
  
• [October 9, 2003] Shenzhou-5 will be Launched at 9:00am October 15
  Phoenix TV reported this morning that Shenzhou-5's exact launch time will be 9:00am Beijing Time October 15. The schedule is subject to change due to weather and technical reasons. It also confirmed that flight duration will be about 21 hours, instead of 90 minutes or 30 hours, as reported earlier. Chinese president Hu Jintao will attend the launch and will talk with taikonaut on board.

• [October 9, 2003] Jiuquan Satellite Image Released
  The well-known Space.com web site released a satellite image of China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on its web site (installation of a plug-in is required). The photo wsa taken on September 29 by the Ikonos-1 commercial imaging satellite. At the monent it was taken, Shenzhou-5 and the CZ-2F launcher were surely inside the Vertical Assembly Building (VAB) that can be clearly seen on the photo. The satellite image also reveals a new launch pad about 600 meters away from the primary launch pad.

• [October 8, 2003] Conflict Reports on Flight Duration
  Phoenix TV says that the Shenzhou-5 flight will last for about 30 hours. It conflicts with the earlier report that suggests a short flight with only one orbit. Phoenix TV also confirmed that the launch will be during day time. The 30-hour mission can well meet the requirement of day-time launch and landing. On the other side, the Hong Kong based Ta Kung Pao reveals today that during the flight the taikonaut on board will talk to the ground with national leaders, his family members, public, and even "international officials" using Chinese and other languages. It also reported that the ground team has prepared many words for him to say to the earth. For example, "Shenzhou-5 performs very well, please approve my flight to the moon."

• [October 8, 2003] Senior Space Scientist Suggests Single Orbit Flight of Shenzhou-5
  When interviewed by the Oriental Morning Post of Shanghai, Xie Guangxuan, cheif designer of the Long March 3 rocket, said that he believes the historic Shenzhou-5 flight will last only one orbit, identical to what Yuri Gagarin did 42 years ago. China has said that Shenzhou-5's primary objective is to put the first taikonaut in orbit and it will be made as simple as possible. It is still unclear if Xie's words represent only his own opinion or the official flight plan.

• [October 7, 2003] Shenzhou-5 Launch Date and Live Broadcast Confirmed
  Phoenix TV, Hong Kong, reported today that China has tentatively decided that Shenzhou-5 will be launched on October 15. CCTV Channel 4 (international channel) and Channel 9 (English channel) will live broadcat the whole mission from October 15. It also reported that three taikonaut candidates, including two trainers, are among the SZ-5 taikonaut list.

• [October 4, 2003] DoubleStar Launch Preparation Going Smoothly
  The first Sino-European DoubleStar satellite, the Equator satellite, has completed assembly and has passed vibration and noice testings. Testing data show that the satellite works normally. At the same time, the CZ-2C launcher which is to loft the DoubleStar satellte is also under final checkup. The launch of the Equator satellite is scheduled in December from Xichang.

• [October 2, 2003] Will Shenzhen-5 Mission be Live Broadcasted?
  There are more and more rumours on Internet that China Central Television (CCTV) will live broadcast the whole Shenzhou-5 mission in mid October. It is said that the planned coverage will last as long as 36 hours. However, it is still very difficult to be confirmed at this moment. In history, China has four live TV broadcastings for space launches. They are Asiasat CZ-3 launch in April 1990, Optus B1 CZ-2E launch attempt in March 1992, Apstar 2 CZ-2E launch in January 1995 and Intelsat 708 CZ-3B launch in February 1996.

• [October 2, 2003] Tracking Stations Ready for Shenzhou Flight
  Hong Kong based Wen Wei Po reveals that China's 12 tracking stations and tracking ships are making final preparation and are ready for the historic Shenzhou-5 mission. Eight ground stations are located in Beijing, Xi'an, Weinan, Qingdao, Xiamen, Karshi, Karachi and Namibia. Four Yuanwang tracking ships are deployed in three major oceans. There are also more than 20 monitoring stations within the Chinese territory.

• [October 1, 2003] Taikonauts Arrive in Jiuquan
  14 taikonauts, including two trainers, arrived in Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in later September. Date and crew size of the Shenzhou-5 launch, China's first manned space flight, are still unknown. The latest rumour is from the Hong Kong based PhoenixTV which says it will happen during the week after October 10. It is widely believed by Chinese and international media that Shenzhou-5 will carry only one taikonuat into space for a one-day mission. Chinese officials earlier revealed that Shenzhou-5 launch preparation is very smooth so far.

• [October 1, 2003] KT-1 Launched Again
  China's first 4-stage, all-solid launch vehicle, KT-1, made its second launch on September 16 from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. China claimed that the launch was successful in "R&D standard". The official report said that its guidance system, fairing separation and satellite-launcher separation work well but also admitted that not all objectives are achieved. According to information revealed earlier, the launcher was to put the 40-kg PS2 satellite into the 300kmx300km orbit. (China Space News)

• [October 1, 2003] China Made Progress in Lunar Exploration
  China's first lunar exploration program, the Project Chang'e, is going smoothly since the kick-off on March 1, 2003. Chinese space officials announced recently that breakthroughs on some key techologies have been made, and preliminary design of the spacecraft has started . The planned Chang'e probe will be based on the DFH-3 bus and will be launched by a CZ-3A  from Xichang around 2005.

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