First test flight of the Shenzhou spacecraft, without crew on board. The spacecraft used has only 8 of the 13 sub-systems on board being operational, and was not equipped with a life support system or an emergency escape system. The major test objectives of the mission were the flight of the Long March 2F rocket, separation of the modules, attitude control, lifting body reentry, heat shield testing and ground recovery.
The Long March 2F is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket, part of the Long March 2 rocket family. Designed to launch the crewed Shenzhou spacecraft, the Long March 2F is a human-rated two-stage version of the Long March 2E rocket, which in turn was based on the Long March 2C launch vehicle. It is launched from complex SLS at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
The first Shenzhou spacecraft was different from those later used. Instead of featuring unfolding solar panels, Shenzhou 1 was equipped with fixed solar cells. During this first flight there were also no orbit changes. According to Qi Faren the chief designer of the spacecraft, only 8 of the 13 sub-systems on board the spacecraft were operational. Shenzhou 1 was designed primarily to test the Long March 2F rocket. The only systems and capabilities tested on the spacecraft were the separation of the modules, attitude control, lifting body reentry, the heat shield, and ground recovery.
Shenzhou DetailsThe China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is the main contractor for the Chinese space program. It is state-owned and has a number of subordinate entities which design, develop and manufacture a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategic and tactical missile systems, and ground equipment. It was officially established in July 1999 as part of a Chinese government reform drive, having previously been one part of the former China Aerospace Corporation. Various incarnations of the program date back to 1956.
INFO WIKIAmazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, thi…
AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, requi…
Details TBD.
A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…
Classified experimental Chinese satellite of unknown purposes (officially described for "spatial environment detection" purposes).
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
8 Earth observation satellites for the Jilin-1 commercial Earth observation satellites constellation: * High Resolution-04D 01-02 * High Resoluti…
A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Test flight of the H3-30 variant of the H3 launch vehicle with 3 LE-9 engines in the first stage and no SRBs. The flight will carry a dummy main payl…
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.