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Shenzhou Third Flight Approaches As Tracking Fleet Sets Sail
Beijing - July 31, 2001 The third unmanned test flight of the Shenzhou manned spacecraft would happen in the near future, the Hong Kong-based pro-Beijing newspaper Wen Wei Po reported a week ago (July 23). The newspaper wrote that prelaunch preparation and testing of the Shenzhou-3 spacecraft (SZ-3, Shenzhou means "Magic Vessel") and the Changzheng-2F (Long March-2F) launch vehicle entered "an intense period". The mission will lift off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre (JSLC), China's manned spaceflight launch centre, in the northwestern Gansu Province. Yesterday (July 30) the same newspaper reported that three of the four Yuanwang (YW, Yuanwang means "Long View") tracking vessels spent the past two months at their home port in Shanghai to undergoing refurbishment and upgrade in preparation of supporting the SZ-3 mission. For example the oldest ship of the fleet, YW-1 which entered service in 1977, received an intelligent navigation control system. Coupled with electronic ocean maps, navigators can simply enter a planned route and the navigation control system will automatically guide the ship in the proper bearing. YW-1 left port in recent days for a pre-mission testing of all systems. This is another sign that the SZ-3 launch is near. Wen Wei Po has a track record of reporting news of imminent key Chinese space launches. The newspaper reported the planned maiden unmanned test flight SZ-1 five days before the launch. For the SZ-2 mission, the newspaper reported the imminent launch twelve days before the blastoff. Based on this track record SZ-3 may occur before the end of August; perhaps as early as in two weeks. The unmanned SZ-3 mission will use a flight-rated spacecraft to continue comprehensive testing of all systems, particularly the subsystems that would ensure the safety of yuhangyuans ("astronauts") during ascent, on-orbit and descent operations. Like the SZ-2 flight, there will also be science payloads to study life and material sciences, astrophysics and space physics. Just two weeks ago Chinese scientists announced breakthrough achievements in several experiments that were flown on SZ-2.
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