Tuesday, September 20, 2011

DTN News - CHINA NEWS: China To Launch Space Station's First Module

DTN News - CHINA NEWS: China To Launch Space Station's First Module
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 20, 2011: China said Tuesday it will launch its Tiangong-1 space module later this month, marking its first step towards building a Chinese space station.
The Asian giant sees its space programme as a symbol of its global stature, growing technical expertise, and the Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the formerly poverty-stricken nation.
It had originally planned to place the unmanned Tiangong-1, or "Heavenly Palace", in orbit last year, but was forced to delay the move for "technical reasons".
A spokesman for the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the northwestern province of Gansu, who refused to be named, told AFP the module will be launched some time between September 27 and 30, just ahead of China's National Day on October 1.
According to the official Xinhua news agency, both Tiangong-1 and the Long March 2-F rocket that will take the module into space are already in place on a launch platform at the centre.
Weighing eight tonnes, the module is due to stay in orbit around earth for two years.
In April, Yang Liwei, the first Chinese astronaut, told reporters China would attempt its first space docking between Tiangong-1 and another unmanned vehicle called Shenzhou 8 in the second half of the year.
If this succeeds, the module will then dock with two other rockets -- Shenzhou 9 and 10 -- in 2012, both of which will have astronauts on board.
Before 2016, China will launch a space laboratory and, Yang said, "around 2020, we plan to realise the construction of a space station in orbit for long-term stays in space".
China's space station will be made up of the module, two laboratories, a cargo ship and a manned rocket, with a total weight of 60 tonnes, compared to 137 tonnes for the Russian station Mir and 419 tonnes for the International Space Station (ISS), state media has said.
China became the world's third nation to put a man in space independently -- after the United States and Russia -- when Yang piloted the one-man Shenzhou-5 space mission in 2003.
In September 2008, the Shenzhou-7, piloted by three astronauts, carried out China's first space walk.
Related News;

China to launch “Heavenly Palace” on way to space station

Khaleej Times - ‎1 hour ago‎
BEIJING - China will next week launch an experimental craft paving the way for its first space station, an official said on Tuesday, bringing the growing Asian power closer to matching the United States and Russia with a long-term manned outpost in ...

China to launch space station's first module

AFP - ‎3 hours ago‎
BEIJING — China said Tuesday it will launch its Tiangong-1 space module later this month, marking its first step towards building a Chinese space station. The Asian giant sees its space programme as a symbol of its global stature, growing technical ...

China to launch unmanned space module

Economic Times - ‎5 hours ago‎
The 8.5-tonne Tiangong-1, or "Heavenly Palace 1," will be sent into space to perform the nation's first space-docking procedure. It will dock with the unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft, which will be sent into space after the Tiangong-1's launch, ...

China to launch 'Heavenly Palace' space test unit

TVNZ - ‎9 hours ago‎
China will launch a prototype module for a planned space lab next week, state media said today. The step will bring it closer to the United States and Russia as space powers. The Tiangong 1, or "Heavenly Palace", will blast off from the Gobi Desert ...

Beijing leaps into space exploration

Independent Online - ‎18 hours ago‎
AP A Chinese astronaut in training in what appeared to be an airplane outfitted to simulate zero-gravity during a news program giving a glimpse into China''s secretive astronaut program. Beijing - With a rocket on the launch pad ready to send its first ...

China Prepares First Space Docking Exercise for Permanent Space Station

MyFox Phoenix - ‎1 hour ago‎
(NewsCore) - China plans to launch an unmanned space module next week to perform the nation's first space docking exercise in preparation for a permanent space station, the official Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday. ...

China Prepares To Launch 'Heavenly Palace' Space Module

Business Insider - ‎2 hours ago‎
Deep in the Gobi desert, the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) is making final preparations for next week's launch of the Tiangong-1 or Heavenly Palace experimental space module. The module is set to rendezvous with the Shenzou-8 spacecraft that ...

Unmanned space module launch readied

UPI.com - ‎2 hours ago‎
BEIJING, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- China's launch of its unmanned space module Tiangong-1, put off earlier this month, is now set for later this month, a spokesman said Tuesday. The launch will occur sometime between next Tuesday and the end of the month, ...

China to launch unmanned space module

iNewsOne - ‎5 hours ago‎
Beijing, Sep 20 (IANS) China has decided to launch its unmanned space module — Tiangong-1 — between Sep 27 and 30. The 8.5-tonne Tiangong-1, or 'Heavenly Palace 1,' will be sent into space to perform the nation's first space-docking procedure. ...

Launch of prototype space lab module

RTHK - ‎8 hours ago‎
Xinhua News Agency says China will launch a prototype module for a planned space lab next week. The Tiangong 1 or "Heavenly Palace" is scheduled to blast off from the Gobi Desert launch site in Gansu Province next week, just before the October 1 ...

Tiangong: Better Late Than Lost

Space Daily - Morris Jones - ‎Sep 18, 2011‎
It seems that our long wait for the launch of China's space laboratory is almost over. Most discussions of the flight of Tiangong 1 suggest that it will certainly launch this month. We can now measure the countdown in days instead of ...

China to launch space station's first module

PhysOrg.com - ‎48 minutes ago‎
A Chinese rocket blasts off from the launch centre in Xichang in the southwestern province of Sichuan, 2010. China said it will launch its Tiangong-1 space module later this month, marking its first step towards building a Chinese space station. ...

China to launch "Heavenly Palace" on way to space

WHTC - Chris Buckley, Ben Blanchard - ‎2 hours ago‎
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will next week launch an experimental craft paving the way for a planned space station, an official said on Tuesday, bringing the growing Asian power closer to matching the United States and Russia with a ...
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News

©

COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS

No comments: