Shenzhou 2
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Mission type | Test flight |
---|---|
COSPAR ID | 2001-001A |
SATCAT no. | 26664 |
Mission duration | 7 days 10 hours 22 minutes |
Orbits completed | 117 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | Shenzhou |
Launch mass | 7,400 kilograms (16,300 lb) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | January 9, 2001, 17:00:03.561 | UTC
Rocket | Chang Zheng 2F |
Launch site | Jiuquan LA-4/SLS-1 |
End of mission | |
Landing date | January 16, 2001, 11:22 | UTC
Landing site | Inner Mongolia[vague] |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Eccentricity | 0.00119 |
Perigee altitude | 330 kilometres (210 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 346 kilometres (215 mi) |
Inclination | 42.6 degrees |
Period | 91.3 minutes |
Epoch | 8 January 2001, 20:00:00 UTC[1] |
Shenzhou missions → |
Shenzhou 2 (
Shenzhou 2 tested the spacecraft much more rigorously than its predecessor Shenzhou 1. After being launched into a 196.5 by 333.8 km orbit, 20.5 hours after launch it circularised its orbit to 327.7 by 332.7 km. Around 1220 UTC on January 12 it once again changed its orbit to 329.3 by 339.4 km. A third orbit change came on January 15 328.7 by 345.4 km.
As well as the animal cargo, there were 64 different scientific payloads. 15 were carried in the reentry module, 12 in the orbital module and 37 on the forward external pallet. These included a
Successful reentry and failed landing
The signal for retrofire was sent at about 1015 UTC on January 16 as the spacecraft passed over the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Africa. It landed in Inner Mongolia at 11:22 UTC. No photos were released of the landing capsule leading to some speculation that the reentry was not completely successful, though Chinese officials kept silent, only responded anomaly. The Swedish Space Center news site reported that an unnamed source said one of the connections from the capsule to the single parachute failed leading to a hard landing. Later in 2017, it was revealed by Yang Liwei that the parachutes failed to open upon re-entry, which resulted in hard-landing. Some of the cargo was slightly burned.[2]
The mission of the orbital module continued until it was commanded to fire its rockets to initiate reentry on August 24. It reentered over the western Pacific Ocean between Easter Island and Chile.
Mission parameters
- Mass: 7,400 kg
- Perigee: 330 km
- Apogee: 346 km
- Inclination: 42.6°
- Period: 91.3 minutes
- NSSDC ID: 2001-001A
See also
- Chinese space program
- Tiangong program
- Shenzhou spacecraft
- Long March rocket
- Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
- Animals in space
References
- David, Leonard (January 2, 2001). "China Readies Next Spaceship Test". Space.com. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
- David, Leonard (January 12, 2001). "Shenzhou 2 Could Signal Chinese Manned Mission in 2002". Space.com. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
- David, Leonard (January 16, 2001). "China Bid for Human Spaceflight Boosted by Shenzhou 2 Landing". Space.com. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
- Wei, Long (January 19, 2001). "Shenzhou 2 Returns While Orbital Experiments Continue". SpaceDaily. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
- Cheng, Ho (February 27, 2001). "Confusion and Mystery of Shenzhou 2 Mission Deepens". SpaceDaily. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
- Grahn, Sven. "The flight of Shenzhou 2". Retrieved 2010-12-13.
- "Shenzhou 2 Unmanned Spaceflight Mission". Chinese Defence Today. Archived from the original on 11 April 2005. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
- ^ "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Trajectory Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
- ^ "百度安全验证".
External links
- Shenzhou images from Go Taikonauts!