Brian Harvey

China's Space Program - From Conception to Manned Spaceflight

Published in association with Springer Praxis Publishing Chichester, UK Table of Contents

Preface xi Acknowledgements xv List of illustrations xvii

1 THE FLIGHT OF YANG LIWEI 1

2 ORIGINS: THE FIERY DRAGON 15 Tsien Hsue Shen 17 On the trail of the German rocketeers 19 Return to China 21 Scientific construction in China 22 Foundation: 8 October 1956 22 The Fifth Academy 22 Chinese-Soviet cooperation 24 Project 1059: the challenge of copying a Russian rocket 24 The idea of a Chinese Earth satellite '; 25 Project 581 27 Earth satellite shelved; rocket programme continues 27 Development of a sounding rocket 29 Launch site in the Gobi desert 31 The great split 34 Assessment and conclusions 35 References 35

3 DONG FANG HONG - THE EAST IS RED 37 Military imperatives: Dong Feng 2 37 China a nuclear power 38 Dong Feng 3 and Dong Feng 4 39 Dong Feng 5: China's long-range rocket 40 A submarine-launched missile 42 vi Table of Contents

China's rocket strike force 42 Sounding rockets make progress 43 Biological sounding rockets 44 Dogs fly into the atmosphere: the missions of Xiao Bao and Shan Shan . . ."44 Resumption of the Earth satellite project 46 Project 651 47 Reorganization and dispersal 48 A 64-day design conference 49 The cultural revolution engulfs China 50 A rocket for China's first Earth satellite 52 Design challenges of the Long March 1 52 The problem of the third stage of the Long March 1 53 Long March 1: the final laps 55 The moment of truth 56 'We did it through our own efforts' - Zhou Enlai 58 Dong Fang Hong: the aftermath 60 A second satellite: Shi Jian 1 60 Epilogue: Tsien Hsue Shen 62 Assessment and conclusions 64 References 65

4 EXPANDING THE SPACE PROGRAMME 67 'No space race' 67 Four modernizations 68 Project 701: the Ji Shu Shiyan Weixing series (1973-76) 70 The Feng Bao rocket 71 Shanghai mobilizes 72 First hot test 72 In orbit at last 73 The recoverable satellite programme .\ 75 The challenges 76 Mission profile 79 A launcher for the FSW: the Long March 2 79 A broken wire 82 Coasting to orbit 83 Helicopters scrambled 84 A crisis-ridden second mission 85 An improved version 86 Introduction of microbiology experiments 87 Shi Jian 2 87 New cargo 88 First 3-in-l launch attempt 89 Shi Jian 4 and Shi Jian 5 91 Assessment and conclusions 92 References 93 Table of Contents vii

5 COMMUNICATIONS AND CONSPIRACIES 95 Communications satellites: Project 331 95 Mao's last decision 96 The rocket 97 Configuring the launcher 98 A new engine: introducing the YF-73 98 Arriving on station: the apogee motor 99 Troubles, leaks, explosion 100 A new launch site needed 101 The communications satellite 102 Preparing for the first launch 103 Beating the summer thunder 104 Zhang Aiping's telephone call 105 New languages from space 106 Dong Fang Hong 2A: 3,000 telephone calls at a time 107 The Dong Fang Hong 3 series: 8,000 telephone calls at a time 109 Benefits of comsats 113 Commercialization of the Chinese space programme 115 Restrictions, prices and quotas 115 Export licence crux 116 First commercial mission 117 Fire on the pad! 119 Debris, recrimination 120 Long March crashes in flames 121 Saint Valentine's day massacre 122 Loss of confidence 122 The Cox report 124 Iridium 131 Assessment and conclusions 133 References 134

6 APPLYING THE SPACE PROGRAMME 135 Meteorological satellites (Feng Yun) 135 First polar, Sun-synchronous, Taiyuan, Long March 4 137 Feng Yun 1-2 carries balloons 138 Haiyang - new ocean satellite 140 A geosynchronous meteorological satellite 141 A fuelling disaster in the processing hall 142 Recoverable satellites: the new FSW 1 series 143 China flies animal passengers into orbit 144 Rogue satellite on the loose 144 FSW 2 series: manoeuvrable, heavier, 18-day profile 145 Results from the FSW series 147 CBERS and Zi Yuan Earth resources programmes 153 Navigation satellites: stars of the heavens 157 viii Table of Contents

Microsatellites: smaller and smaller 160 Assessment and conclusions 164 References 164

7 BEHIND THE SCENES 167 Designers and engineers: the problem of the intellectual and 167 the revolution The first group of chief designers 169 Design bureaux and organizations 169 Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) 170 China Aerospace Corporation 171 The testing infrastructure 176 Institute for Aviation and Space Medicine 180 Chinese Academy of Sciences 181 Mission control, Xian 182 Comships 185 The space programme and the Chinese economy 187 International contact 189 Assessment and conclusions 192 References 193

8 LAUNCH CENTRES, ROCKETS AND ENGINES 195 Launch sites 195 Jiuquan 196 Xi Chang 204 Taiyuan 206 Hainan 208 Launchers 209 Sounding rockets 228 Rocket engines 229 Reliability 233 Assessment and conclusions 236 References 237

9 SHUGUANG'S FALSE DAWN 239 Origins of a Chinese manned space programme 239 First astronauts 241 Disbanded 243 Rumours and refutations 244 Fresh plans 246 Decision 247 Renewal of contact with Moscow 248 Mission control 252 Project 921 in the open 253 Assessment and conclusions 253 Table of Contents ix

References 254

10 THE SHENZHOU MISSIONS 257 Roll-out 257 Shenzhou 1 flies! 259 Aftermath 261 Shenzhou 2 266 Shenzhou 2 postscript 270 Shenzhou 3: the long wait 273 Jiang, yuhangyuan at launch site 274 Mongolian landfall 276 Last trial: Shenzhou 4 278 What next? 282 Assessment and conclusions 287 References 288

11 THE FUTURE OF CHINA IN SPACE 291 The Chinese space programme in international perspective 291 China's space budget 293 The rhythm of China's space programme 294 Official policy: the white paper 296 A Chinese space shuttle 299 On to the Long March 5 301 Small launchers 305 New spacecraft programmes 306 Assessment and conclusions 315 References 317

List of Chinese satellite launchings 319 Principal milestones in the development of the Chinese space programme 323 Glossaries 329 Bibliography 334 Index 339