China Manned Space Agency

‘Divine Vessel’ Rocket Launches China’s First Human Spaceflight Since 2016

June 22, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Janis Mackey Frayer June 17, 2021 (nbcnews.com)

• On June 17th, the Chinese Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-12 capsule successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, sending three astronauts on a historic mission to an orbiting space station that China is currently building. It was the first time in five years that China has sent humans into space. (see 1:07 minute video of launch below)

• Shenzhou-12, or “Divine Vessel,” is one of 11 planned missions to complete construction of China’s 70-ton ‘Tiangong’ or “Harmony of the Heavens” space station that should be up and running by next year. The astronauts will remain docked with the main Tianhe section of the station for three months to perform spacewalks, maintenance work and critical testing of life support and other systems.

• “I believe that in the near future, when the Chinese space station is complete, we will see Chinese and foreign astronauts taking on joint missions,” China Manned Space Agency Assistant Director Ji Qiming said at an earlier news conference. “Exploring the vast universe, developing space activities and building a powerful space nation is our unremitting space dream.”

• The 20 year-old International Space Station, or ISS, which has hosted astronauts from the U.S., Russia and a number of other countries is set to be decommissioned after 2024. China has long been frozen out of and ISS mission due to American concerns over the Chinese space program’s secrecy and connections to its own military. Moscow has hinted that it may withdraw from ISS cooperation in 2025, meaning China could be the only country with a functioning space station.

• The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, also signed an agreement in March with the Chinese National Space Administration to build a base on or around the Moon, which they will call the International Scientific Lunar Station. “All the firsts that the U.S. and the USSR did in the Cold War, China is just ticking them off,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “Now they’re at the point where they’re starting to think, ‘OK, we’re not just copying the West anymore, we’re going to start doing our own thing’. And that’s going to be very interesting to watch.”

• On the day before the launch, the three Chinese astronauts (pictured above) met with reporters from inside a germ-free glass chamber. Veteran Nie Haisheng, 56, was looking forward to his third trip to space, while Liu Boming, 54, took part in a 2011 mission that included China’s first spacewalk. They were joined by 40-year-old Tang Hongbo, who was looking forward to his first journey up to the stars, having been selected for training in 2010.

• After Tianhe’s main module was successfully launched last month, state media reported that President Xi Jinping wrote a letter to congratulate Chinese engineers for a breakthrough that earned a place in the nation’s history. NASA and others scolded Beijing for acting recklessly by allowing a rocket booster from that mission to fall to Earth in a seemingly uncontrolled manner.

• The Shenzhou-12’s launch was covered on state television and celebrated as a matter of prestige ahead of the Communist Party’s 100th anniversary next month. For Xi, the space station holds symbolic value in his vision of his country as “a space power in all respects.”

• But as China pours billions of dollars into its space programs, including an exploration of the dark side of the Moon and its recent landing of a rover on Mars, some analysts fear that its lack of international coordination is creating a dangerously competitive playing field in space. “There is no doubt the U.S. is the most advanced,” Zhou Jianping, the chief designer at China’s Manned Space Agency told NBC News. “Regardless of scale, China develops space programs out of our country’s own need … to fulfil our own dream.”

JIUQUAN, China — A Chinese rocket blasted off from a launch pad in the Gobi Desert on Thursday, sending three astronauts on a historic mission to an orbiting space station China is building.

Fire and huge clouds of dust could be seen in the distance when the Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-12 capsule roared away from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, as China’s space race with the United States and Russia continues to gather pace.

It was the first time in five years that China has sent humans into space.

For Rong Yi, the rocket’s chief designer, it was hard to see it go.

“We have invested so much energy,” she told NBC News, likening the rocket to raising a child. “But I am thrilled to see it fulfill its duty within 10 minutes.”

**China Manned Space Agency Assistant Director Ji Qiming**

Shenzhou-12, or “Divine Vessel,” is one of 11 planned missions to complete construction of China’s 70-ton Tiangong or Harmony of the Heavens space station that is set to be up and running by next year.

The astronauts will remain docked with the main Tianhe section of the station for three months — China’s longest crewed mission yet — to perform spacewalks, maintenance work and critical testing of life support and other systems.

“I believe that in the near future, when the Chinese space station is complete, we will see Chinese and foreign astronauts taking on joint missions,” China Manned Space Agency Assistant Director Ji Qiming said at a news conference Wednesday ahead of the launch.

**Zhou Jianping, the chief designer at China’s Manned Space Agency**

“Exploring the vast universe, developing space activities and building a powerful space nation is our unremitting space dream,” he said.

China has long been frozen out of the International Space Station, or ISS, a project launched 20 years ago that has served as the ultimate expression of post-Cold War reconciliation between Russia and the United States. American concerns over the Chinese space program’s secrecy and connections to its military were largely responsible for that.

But the aging ISS that hosted astronauts from the U.S., Russia and a number of other countries is set to be decommissioned after 2024. As broader U.S.-Russia relations deteriorate, Moscow has hinted that it may withdraw from ISS cooperation in 2025, meaning China could be the only country with a functioning space station.

Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, also signed an agreement in March with the Chinese National Space Administration to build a base on or around the Moon, which they will call the International Scientific Lunar Station.

1:06 minute video of the launch of the Long March-2F rocket
carrying the Shenzhou-12 capsule (‘NBC News’ YouTube)

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China Completes Another Part of Its Own Space Station

June 15, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Arjun Kharpal May 31, 2021 (cnbc.com)

• On May 30th, the China Manned Space Agency’s Long March 7 rocket carried the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft (pictured above) into orbit from the Wenchang island launch site (in Hainan province). The Tianzhou-2 then successfully docked with the Tianhe core module of China’s Tiangong space station. The Tiangong space station will be made of three modules, including the Tianhe “core”, the Tianzhou-2 and laboratories.

• Over the next two years, China will carry out eleven missions to complete the construction of the space station, and to bring astronauts and supplies up as well. The Tiangong space station is expected to be operational by 2022.

• The Tianzhou-2 carried up astronaut supplies including space suits and food, paving the way for China to launch astronauts to the space station. Shredded pork and kung pao chicken are among the food items transported to space, the Xinhua news agency reported.

• The Tiangong space station will rival the International Space Station, a co-operative effort between the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. China is not involved. Beijing has put a lot of emphasis on ambitious space projects. Last year, China completed its global navigation system called Beidou, a rival to the U.S. government-owned Global Positioning System (GPS). And an unmanned Chinese spacecraft landed successfully on Mars.

GUANGZHOU, China — China has completed another major part of its own space

station, the latest in a string of ambitious extraterrestrial projects from the world’s second-largest economy.

The Long March 7 rocket carrying the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft took off at 8:55 p.m. local time on Saturday from the Wenchang launch site, according to the China Manned Space agency.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Tianzhou-2 docked with the core module of the space station called Tianhe.

**a Chinese astronaut or ‘yuhangyuans’ or sometimes ‘taikonauts’**

China’s space station will be made of three modules which includes the Tianhe “core,” cargo spacecraft such as Tianzhou-2 and laboratories. China will carry out 11 missions this year and next to complete the construction of the space station, and

bring astronauts and supplies up too. The space station is expected to go into operation in 2022.

The docking of Tianzhou-2 has paved the way for China to launch astronauts to the space station. The cargo spacecraft carried up astronaut supplies including space suits and food. Shredded pork and kung pao chicken are among the food items transported to space, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

China’s first self-developed space station will rival the International Space Station, which is a co-operative effort between the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. China is not involved.

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China’s Space Program Has ‘Outmatched’ Decades of US Space Research and Investment

October 17, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Eurasian Times Desk October 4, 2020 (eurasiantimes.com)

• Although it currently trails the United States and Russia in volume of orbiting satellites, China has been expanding its network of military intelligence satellites. Last year, it conducted 32 successful rocket launches while the US executed 21 successful launches. And China is set to launch the core module for its Tianhe space station next year. According to ‘the Center for Strategic and International Studies’, China will become a major space power by 2030.

• The US House of Representatives ‘China Task Force’ has stated that “If the PRC [People’s Republic of China] succeeds in its efforts to launch its first long-term space station module in 2022, it will have matched the U.S.’ nearly 40-year progression from first human spaceflight to first space station module in less than 20 years.” Meanwhile, the China Manned Space Agency announced last month that the first Tianhe module of China’s first crewed space station has passed a final review, and has selected the crew of eighteen astronauts for its planned 2021 launch.

• A US DoD ‘Pentagon 2020 report’ notes that “Beijing has devoted significant resources to growing all aspects of its space program, from military space applications to civil applications such as profit-generating launches, scientific endeavors, and space exploration.” Beijing’s stated defense policy is to safeguard China’s security interests in outer space, electromagnetic space, and cyberspace.

• The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is vocal about plans to establish a human base on the Moon. The US should be concerned about the technological innovations and leadership role for the CCP that could come from missions crewed by PRC-nationals to the Moon,” the Pentagon 2020 report said.

• Analysts believe that the race between the US and China to militarize space increases the risk of war between the two global powers. “China is not the Soviet Union,” Chinese air force major general Qiao Liang warned. “If the United States thinks it can also drag China into an arms race and takedown China as it did with the Soviets … in the end, probably it would not be China who is down on the ground.” “China has little choice but to enhance its own capabilities,” said Qiao. “China’s purpose to develop space capabilities, firstly, is we do not want to be blackmailed by others.”

• Qiao insists that China hopes to use space peacefully. “But if others want to oppress us by occupying the heights of space and opening up a fourth battlefield, China will certainly not accept it,” said General Qiao. China and the US have seen a military escalation in the South China Sea where Washington has deployed several warships along with the B-52 Bomber. Beijing has mirrored these actions and has threatened to take action against US provocations. But China’s space capabilities may provide a strong counter to the US Space Force, and may reduce the risk of war if tensions escalate any further.

In recent developments, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) that works under the wing of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) announced last month that the first module of China’s space station, the ‘Tianhe’ module, has passed the final review.

Moreover, CMSA has selected 18 new astronauts to participate in the country’s upcoming space station project,

said a SPACENEWS report.

Out of 2,500 candidates, 18 were selected consisting of seven pilots, seven spaceflight engineers, and four payload specialists. It includes only one woman. This is the first time that the selection process was open for civilians.

Earlier in 1998 and 2010, only air force pilots were eligible to participate in the process, said the report.

With both the US and China racing to militarise space, the analysts believe is increasing the risk of war between the two global powers. “China is not the Soviet Union,” said Qiao Liang, a major general in the Chinese air force, in an interview with SCMP.

“If the United States thinks it can also drag China into an arms race and takedown China as it did with the Soviets … in the end, probably it would not be China who is down on the ground.”

Beijing’s stated defense policy is to safeguard China’s security interests in outer space, electromagnetic space, and cyberspace. “Beijing has devoted significant resources to growing all aspects of its space program, from military space applications to civil applications such as profit-generating launches, scientific endeavors, and space exploration,” stated the Pentagon 2020 report.

China who is currently trailing Russia and the US is set to become a space power by 2030. It has been expanding its network of military intelligence satellites. Last year, it conducted 32 successful rocket launches as per the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

This puts China on top for the second year in a row, exceeding the 21 launches in the US in 2019.

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Tag: China Manned Space Agency

‘Divine Vessel’ Rocket Launches China’s First Human Spaceflight Since 2016

China Completes Another Part of Its Own Space Station

China’s Space Program Has ‘Outmatched’ Decades of US Space Research and Investment