Information from sources in Beijing indicates that China is essentially ready to launch the second unmanned test flight of the manned spacecraft. In addition to testing all the spacecraft systems, experiments on space remote sensing and environment monitoring, space materials, life sciences, astronomy and physics will be conducted too.

The respected unofficial website on the Chinese space program Go Taikonauts! suggests that the upcoming mission would last about seven days. The duration appears to be consistent with the scope of the mission. The current design of the spacecraft allows a 3-person crew to fly a 7-day mission. However, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Nov. 7 that the spacecraft could accommodate four yuhangyuans ("astronauts").

Wen Wei Po has a track record of reporting news of imminent key Chinese space launches. On Nov. 15, 1999, the newspaper reported that the first unmanned test flight of the Shenzhou ("Divine Vessel") spacecraft was near. Shenzhou was successfully launched five days later.

Last October 23, the newspaper said that China would make a key breakthrough in satellite navigation technologies. The first Chinese-built navigation and positioning satellite, the Beidou Navigation Test Satellite-1 (BNTS-1; "Beidou" means "Northern Dipper", a reference to the celestial constellation), was launched eight days later.

A report in today's (Jan. 3) People's Liberation Army Daily appears to support the news of the forthcoming launch. Reporters from the Daily filed a dispatch aboard the Yuanwang-2 tracking ship that the crew sailed into the new century in the Pacific Ocean, where the tracking ship spent the past 30 days.

Although the report does not provide any detailed information on the nature of the Yuanwang-2 mission other than its ocean surveying role, there is little doubt that the tracking ship is heading to a specific location in the Pacific in preparation for tracking the second Shenzhou mission.

Yuanwang-2 is among the fleet of four Chinese space tracking ships. During the maiden flight of Shenzhou in 1999, Yuanwang-1 and -2 stationed in the Pacific, Yuanwang-3 was at the south Atlantic Ocean and Yuanwang-4 took up position in the Indian Ocean.

It is not known whether the timing of the launch would have anything to do with the arrival of the Chinese New Year of the Snake on Jan. 24. A successful mission would be symbolic for China to start its space venture in the 21st century.

According to the Wen Wei Po, Shenzhou has three modules and an appended section. The Propulsion Module houses systems that control spacecraft on-orbit movement. Yuhangyuans ride in the Descent Module during ascent and descent. The Orbital Module is where yuhangyuans can conduct experiments with various facilities. The appended section is the docking module for other space vehicles.

The maiden unmanned test flight of Shenzhou took place on Nov. 20, 1999. A Changzheng-2F (Long March-2F), which also made its inaugural flight, delivered Shenzhou to space with a liftoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre (JSLC) in the northwestern Gansu Province. JSLC had been designated as China's manned spaceflight launch centre last year.

Twenty-one hours later after completing 14 orbits, Shenzhou made a safe return to the predetermined landing site in central Inner Mongolia.

Although the historic Shenzhou flight was unmanned, there were cargos carried aboard. The lone "passenger" was a "male" dummy yuhangyuan about 1.7 metre tall and dressed in a silver-grayish colour spacesuit. The dummy lied at 15 deg above horizontal with his knees almost tucked against his chin throughout the mission, a posture to simulate sitting in a flight seat. Sensors on the dummy collected data on cabin temperature, humidity, oxygen level and other parameters.

Other cargos included flags of China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Macau SAR and the Chinese Olympics Association; commemorative philatelic First Day Covers; a red banner commemorating the flight with signatures of all personnel involved in the project; various kinds of seeds and over 30 different types of herbal medicine; and 1,001 pieces of numbered commemorative gold plates.

Since the first successful flight of Shenzhou, rumors of the second unmanned test mission, dubbed Shenzhou-2, surfaced on several occasions last year. Media widely reported the news of the anticipated Shenzhou-2 launch near the time of the National Day on Oct. 1. The launch never occured.

There have been no official words on the lengthy pause in the test flights. Technical or fiscal issues, or both, could be the cause of the delay. Last July 3 Wen Wei Po reported that Shenzhou-2 had incorporated many improvements, including rearrangement of various controllers and re-wiring which reduced the weight of Shenzhou-2 by more than 100 kg.

The unidentified sources told Wen Wei Po last week that the foremost essentials in manned spaceflights would be to ensure the safety of yuhangyuans. "Chinese manned spaceflight needs to continue testing in areas such as thermal control, environment control and life protection, and contingency rescue. Therefore several additional unmanned space missions will be launched in the future.

"The focus of each spacecraft test flight will change according to the actual requirements. When each system has undergone and withstood rigorous testings, the vehicle can then carry yuhangyuans into space."

China's manned space program started in 1992 as Project 921. The sources said that China would still have to go through the full course to the first manned space launch, but the day of orbiting its yuhangyuans would not be far off.

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