Cosmos: Made in China
On the first night of November, China took another step in space exploration. From the cosmodrome, located in the Gobi Desert, the carrier rocket "Changzheng-2F" was launched, the task of which was to launch the unmanned spacecraft "Shengzhou-8". In near-Earth orbit, the "Sacred Boat", and this is how the name of the space ship is translated from Chinese drone, awaits the prototype of the future orbital station with the no less impressive name "Heavenly Hall-1" ("Tangong-1"). The “chamber” itself has been in low-Earth orbit since the end of September.
Having performed several maneuvers in near space, the Changzheng-2F successfully docked the Thangun-1 on the night of last Thursday. This event was covered with fanfare by the Chinese media. The leader of China, who was at that moment in Cannes, congratulated those who were engaged in solving the task of launching an unmanned vehicle, and the whole nation with the success of a global scale. It must be said that the Chinese associate serious prospects with the Tangun-1. It is planned that the full operation of the "palace" will begin in 2020-th year. In this case, the end of the use of the ISS in orbit is scheduled for 2028 year. It turns out that during the 8 years, the Tangun-1 can undergo the necessary “run-in” and become fully capable of replacing the ISS. The Chinese, at least for now, are not going to restrict access to their future orbital station, and even declare its possible use as a base for the implementation of the new Moon exploration program. Such words, obviously, have a hidden subtext, showing the world, and to be precise, the United States, the openness of the “Chinese space”. The creation of the “Tangun-1” began after the Americans expressed their unwillingness to allow the Chinese side to operate the INTERNATIONAL space station - it turns out that it is not as international as it was originally stated. The United States linked its position with the possible use of the ISS by the Chinese as part of the military program.
As China says, the current flight "Shengzhou-8" will allow you to work out the principles of automatic docking. It is planned that several connections will be carried out. The first, which has already taken place, is designed to ensure that the ship and the prototype of the station are in an integrated state during 12 days. At the end of this period, “Shengzhou-8” will automatically have to undock from the “palace” and move away from it at a distance of about 140 meters. The next stage is the repeated test docking, and again the flight in the integrated state (2 days). Chinese are going to return the capsule to Earth in the middle of November.
Such a multiple rehearsal is connected with the fact that in the coming year, China plans to launch two spacecraft at once, and one of the ships will be manned. Cheng Shangan, who is the director of the Center for Astronautics (or, more correctly, Tai-Kunauka), says that the crew has already been selected for the flight. In this case, for the first time in his stories China introduces a team and a woman. The Taikunauts, which is how they call their space explorers in China, are already undergoing training for docking ships in manual mode.
It can be stated that China decided to independently go through all the stages of space exploration. Although many experts in the world tend to believe that the Celestial Empire has acquired some secrets of the space program from the USSR and Russia. Even the layout of the "Shengzhou" is completely identical to the layout of the domestic "Union": the same orbital, service, engine compartments and the descent capsule. The only difference is somewhat larger. However, the world is global, so that secrets by hook or by crook can be transferred from one laboratory to another. This is not the point. The main fact lies in the focus of the PRC on the implementation of its large-scale project in space, which will finally consolidate the status of the country
space superpower.
The very same space program of China began a long time ago. Back in 50, as the Chinese themselves note, work began on the possible exploration of space. In 1970, the first PRC satellite was launched into orbit. Through 33 of the year, China honored the return of the first Chinese Taikunavta with honors. Already, China is ahead of the world average success rates of space launches. It is in this respect that Russia began to noticeably lag behind the PRC in connection with its recent unsuccessful launches.
The fact remains: China wants and can be competitive in space.
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