Latest Shenzhou programme Stories

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online According to Xinhua news agency, China's space program said in a statement on Thursday it will be launching a new spacecraft, along with three astronauts, this summer. The statement said the Chinese astronauts will be boarding the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft between June and August this year. The new mission will mark the first formal application of the manned space transportation system. China launched its own orbiting laboratory,...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online China's next manned space mission will involve a three-person crew and is currently scheduled to take place as early as next summer, according to various media reports that surfaced over the weekend. Reuters, citing reports that originated with the Xinhua news agency, said officials are planning to launch the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft in the first half of June 2013. Speaking at a meeting of the Communist Party, Niu Hongguang,...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online China just keeps on keeping on with its space program, sending off its Tianlian I-03 satellite into orbit on Thursday. The satellite launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, according to Xinhua news agency. Tianlian I-03 flew aboard a Long March-3C carrier rocket to space, and it will be joining up with two other satellites that are already waiting for it to arrive in orbit. The satellite will...

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online After a landmark thirteen-day mission in space aboard the Tiangong-1 experimental space lab, three Chinese astronauts, including the country’s first Chinese female astronaut, parachuted safely back to Earth landing in a grassy field in Inner Mongolia Friday morning. The trio’s Shenzhou-9 space capsule touched down at roughly 10:00 a.m. local time on Friday 29 June, 2012. The capsule somersaulted once after touching down, and...

A trio of Chinese astronauts manually docked the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft to an orbiting laboratory module on Sunday, achieving success in the first such attempt in the history of that nation's space program, the Xinhua News Agency has reported. The three-person Shenzhou-9 crew -- 33-year-old Liu Yang, 43-year-old Liu Wang, and 45-year-old mission commander Jing Haipeng -- placed their vehicle into docking position outside the Tiangong-1 space lab at 12:48pm, and reconnected with the module...

China, being only the third country to launch its own manned mission into space, made history Monday with its first successful manned docking mission at 6:07 a.m. UTC (2:07 p.m. Beijing time), just two days after it sent 3 astronauts, including the first Chinese woman, into space aboard its Shenzhou-9 spacecraft. Shenzhou-9 successfully docked with China’s inaugural orbiting space lab Tiangong-1, which has been in orbit since last year. China state television showed live shots of the...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com China embraced another milestone on Saturday morning as it launched its first female astronaut into space. Female astronaut Liu Yang, 33, along with two male astronauts, lifted off aboard the Shenzhou 9 capsule from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert. Everything worked like a charm as the spacecraft opened up its solar panels and entered into orbit just moments after liftoff. The crew will be docking with a Chinese space...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com China will be extending its feats on Saturday as it launches its first woman into space aboard its Shenzhou-9 spacecraft. A spokeswoman for the country's space program said Liu Yang, a 33-year-old major in the People's Liberation Army, will take part in China's fourth manned space launch. "From day one I have been told I am no different from the male astronauts," Liu, a trained fighter pilot who is married but has no children, told the state broadcaster...

John Neumann for redOrbit.com China is readying a spaceflight that will feature the country’s first female in orbit, writes Tania Branigan for The Guardian. The decision will be decided soon as to which of two candidates will be allowed into orbit. The first of the two candidates is Major Liu Yang, from Henan. Hailed as a “hero pilot”, who achieved notoriety after a successful emergency aircraft landing in which a dramatic bird strike incident spattered the windshield of her plane...

China is apparently planning to launch a manned spacecraft sometime in June, with state media reports suggesting that the vehicle will be docking with a mobile space lab that has been orbiting Earth since last September. CNN, citing information obtained from the Xinhua news agency, said that the Shenzhou-9 was moved to a launch platform Saturday in order to allow scientists to conduct tests prior to the launch, which is scheduled for the middle of this month. It will be the first time...