China’s Shenzhou 7 spacecraft carrying a three-man crew lifted off today from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and is now in Earth orbit. During the upcoming three-day mission, Chinese astronauts, called taikonauts, will launch a small satellite and conduct their country’s first spacewalk. Shenzhou 7 and the body of the rocket that launched it will be visible to the naked eye as they orbit Earth. Head over to www.spaceweather.com to learn of viewings in your area.
While on their mission the taikonauts will conduct six tests: Test 1: Blastoff from the Long-March II-F carrier rocket that transports the spaceship succeeded in bringing six spacecraft to outer space. A series of contingency plans were made for the astronauts’ safety with a 100-meter-high launch tower equipped with a slide to escape from the spaceship. Placement of the control center is 1,500-feet away from the launch tower in the event of a catastrophe to reduce the threat to the ground staff.
Test 2: The Shenzhou-7 spaceship will transfer from an elliptic orbit to a circular one in its fifth circle around the earth. This is critical for the spaceship to fulfill all its tasks and descend on the scheduled landing area in the timetable.
The spaceship will first travel on the elliptic orbit, 200 km away from the earth at the nearer point and 350 km at the farthest point, and it will transfer to the circular orbit 343 km away from the Earth, to make its return trip easier.
Test 3: Putting the space suit on is quite an ordeal. Astronauts begin preparing for the spacewalk in the spaceship’s ninth circle around the earth. The whole preparation will take about 14 hours. Development of the EVAs (extra vehicular activity) suits, named Feitian was conducted in only four years. Even though they’ve been trained, this is the first time for the astronaut to put on it in outer space.
Test 4: The airlock, a pressure chamber linking the main body of the spaceship to the outside, which is new on Shenzhou-7 was not required on the previous six space flights. Proper function of the airlock determines whether the astronaut can finish the spacewalk. Inside the airlock, the air pressure reduces to zero before the astronaut steps outside and restores to the normal level inside the module after he returns. This must be accomplished within a certain period of time.
Test 5: The spacewalk will take 30-minutes as the Shenzhou-7 travels around the earth in the 29th circle. The astronaut will take test samples from the surface of the modules and solar battery, cooperating with another astronaut inside while the ground staff maintains the communication between the control center and spacecraft offering support for the astronaut.
Test 6: The blackout area is when the re-entry module goes through a “blackout” area when it re-enters the atmosphere, cutting all communication with the ground. When the spaceship begins its journey back, it must start its engine at the exact moment for a second earlier or later will lead to a landing site 9 km away from the planned one.
