LAUNCH TIME | June 05, 2022 - 04:44 |
LAUNCH PROVIDER | China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation |
CUSTOMER | China National Space Administration |
ROCKET | Long March 2F |
LAUNCH SITE | Launch Area 4 (SLS-1 / 921) - Jiuquan, Cina |
PAYLOAD MASS | 8.400 Kg |
DESTINATION | Tiangong Space Station, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) |
WEATHER | - |
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) will launch 3 taikonauts on the Shenzhou 14 spacecraft for the third human mission to the new Chinese Tiangong space station.
The mission
During the six months in orbit the three crew members will welcome the station's two new modules - Wentian and Mengtian - the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft and the Shenzhou-15 mission crew.
The crew
The three taikonauts selected for this long duration (6 months) mission are Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe.
Shenzhou
The Shenzhou spacecraft has a very similar design to the Soyuz. The spacecraft's first flight was on November 19, 1999, and its first manned launch was launched on October 15, 2003, making China the third country to demonstrate human spaceflight capabilities.
Shenzhou is divided into three main modules:
The orbital module;
The return form;
The service form.
The orbital module is the place where the crew spends time in orbit and where some scientific experiments are kept. The re-entry module (the central one) houses the crew during the launch and re-entry, it is the only one able to re-enter the Earth. The service module, located at the stern, houses the spacecraft's main systems such as propulsion, life support system and main solar panels. A pair of solar panels, with smaller dimensions, is also located outside the orbiting module.
The Long March 7
The Long March 2F is a Chinese rocket and a member of the Long March 2 rocket family. Designed to launch the Shenzhou spacecraft, the Long March 2F is the two-stage human version of the Long March 2E rocket, the main change is the inclusion of a launch escape system.
The Boosters The Long March 2F has 4 boosters, each with a YF-20B engine.
YF-20B burns dinitrogen tetroxide and asymmetric dimethylhydrazine. The boosters have a burn time of 128 seconds and collectively produce 3,256 kN of thrust on takeoff.
The first stage The first stage is 23.7m long and 3.4m in diameter. Like the boosters, this stage has four YF-20B engines powered by dinitrogen tetroxide and asymmetric dimethylhydrazine.
The second stage The second stage has a length of 13.5 m (44 ft) and a diameter of 3.4 m (11 ft). The stage is powered by a single YF-24B engine module, also powered by dinitrogen tetroxide and asymmetric dimethylhydrazine, which provides 831kN of thrust.
Livestream: www.cgtn.com/tv
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