CCTV

Shenzhou-9 docks at Tiangong-1... At 2:07 PM, Beijing time today, the Shenzhou-9 vehicle carrying three taikonauts finally arrived at the Tiangong-1 space module...starting a day's worth of events that led to Tiangong-1 becoming China's first manned space station in low-Earth orbit. Liu Wang, Liu Yang and Jing Haipeng will spend at least 10 days at the station—conducting various lab experiments and testing docking maneuvers utilizing Shenzhou-9 before departing from Tiangong-1 and returning to Earth on June 29. Liu Yang, a pilot for the Chinese Air Force, has already made history by becoming the first female taikonaut to fly into space.

The docking mechanism that allowed Shenzhou-9 to berth with Tiangong-1 is essentially the same type used on the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS). A few modifications to the mechanism could allow Tiangong-1 to dock with the ISS if China was someday permitted to join the multinational program. However, the U.S. Congress has a law in place that prevents NASA from cooperating with the Asian superpower in every way. This is despite the fact China may have a bigger space station in orbit by the time the ISS is retired in 2020...assuming no new funding is provided to extend the life of the 13-year-old orbital outpost well into the next decade.


CCTV


CCTV


CCTV

CCTV

China marks another spaceflight milestone... At 6:37 PM, Beijing Time today, a Long March 2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft blasted off into Earth orbit to rendezvous and dock with China's Tiangong-1 space module...which has been in orbit since last September. While China is about to make history by having its very first crewed space station within the next two days, it also achieved the milestone of launching its first female taikonaut, Liu Yang, into space. Yang, a 33-year-old pilot for the Chinese Air Force, and her two crew members will arrive at Tiangong-1 this Sunday—and return to Earth after what should be a 13-day mission at the prototype outpost.

China hopes to have a bigger and permanent space station in low-Earth orbit (LEO) as early as 2020...the same year that the International Space Station is scheduled to be decommissioned and de-orbited from LEO.


CCTV


CCTV


Chinese Ministry of Defense

Roscosmos

MILESTONES OF THE DAY... Earlier today, a Russian Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft soared into the snow-filled sky above Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The successful launch—which brought Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Anton Shkaplerov, as well as NASA astronaut Dan Burbank into low-Earth orbit (LEO)—commenced the first manned flight to the International Space Station (ISS) since the shuttle Atlantis flew to the research laboratory for the final time on STS-135 last July. The Soyuz will dock with the ISS this Wednesday.

Also occurring today was a successful undocking and re-docking of China’s Shenzhou-8 spacecraft (whose design is borrowed from the Soyuz vehicle) to the Tiangong-1 module in LEO. The first docking of the two craft took place earlier this month. Shenzhou-8 will stay attached to Tiangong-1 for two more days before Shenzhou re-enters Earth’s atmosphere and lands on November 17.


CCTV

CCTV

NEXT STOP: TIANGONG-1... At 2:58 PM, Pacific Daylight Time yesterday, an unmanned Shenzhou spacecraft launched onboard a Long March 2F rocket from northwestern China. After it docks with Tiangong-1 tomorrow (U.S. Time), the Shenzhou-8 vehicle will stay attached to the prototype space station for 12 days—after which Shenzhou-8 will undock from the module and conduct another docking maneuver with it before autonomously returning to Earth several days later.

Tiangong-1 is a prototype to a manned space station that China hopes to launch by the end of this decade...around the time the International Space Station is scheduled to be de-orbited no sooner than 2020, after being in low-Earth orbit for 22 years.


China Manned Space Engineering Office

China Manned Space Engineering Office / CCTV

TIANGONG-1 LIFTS OFF... The unmanned prototype of a space station that China plans to launch by the end of this decade will conduct a test docking with an unpiloted Shenzhou spacecraft in November.


China Manned Space Engineering Office

China Manned Space Engineering Office

TIANGONG-1 POISED FOR LAUNCH... China’s very first space station may launch before the end of this year. The irony would be if Tiangong-1 was damaged—after it reached orbit—by debris from a weather satellite [the Feng Yun 1C (or FY-1C) polar orbit spacecraft] that China intentionally destroyed during a missile test in January of 2007. I would say 'God Forbid'...but the station is an unmanned prototype of a manned orbital outpost that China plans to launch by the end of this decade—so let karma strike Tiangong-1 if it deserves it. The International Space Station was threatened by debris from the FY-1C earlier this year (and continues to be at risk), as an FYI.


China Manned Space Engineering Office