On October 15, 2003 at 9:00 a.m. (that’s October 14 at 8:00 p.m. Central Time) China made history by launching its first manned capsule into space. China is only the third country to launch men into space. The Shenzhou 5 (Shenzou means “Divine Vessel”) carried the first taikonaut, or astronaut, into space. Lt. Col. Yang Liwei, 38 years old, was the only person aboard the vessel. The launch occurred from the Jiuquan Space Center, located 175 miles north of Jiuquan near the Gobi Desert in northern China. Shenzou 5 returned to Earth the following day at 6:23 a.m. (5:23 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday). The re-entry capsule used small rockets and a parachute to safely land in the northern grasslands of Inner Mongolia.

The mission was to make 14 orbits of Earth, which was planned to take 21 hours. One aspect of the mission included releasing an orbital module to remain in space. The module has living space and carries scientific or military equipment. It will continue to make observations from orbit. A service module containing main spacecraft electronics and rockets to help maneuver in space was designed to separate and burn up in the atmosphere during re-entry. Solar panels were attached to the orbital module and to the service module. They generate 1,500 watts of power.

The Shenzhou is modeled after the Russian Soyuz spacecraft after 11 years of modifications. They have had four unmanned space vehicles on test flights in recent years. The Shenzhou 4 was the last unmanned launch completed a 162-hour orbital mission. An earlier Shenzhou test mission carried animals into space. Missions dating back to the 1980s carried about 60 varieties of crops and seeds, indicating zero-gravity agricultural experiments in the future.

The spacecraft can carry up to three people and stay in orbit for weeks. It has a lot of maneuvering capability, a docking system, and can set up a small interim space station. It has a detachable section that can remain in space for several months and can be linked to other sections to form a small space station.

Chinese astronauts are called “taikonauts”. Taikonaut comes from the Chinese word meaning “outer space”. The taikonauts are all excellent fighter pilots from the Chinese Air Force. Twelve taikonauts were chosen from over 2,000 candidates. They are all males who average 30 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches, and about 110 pounds. They have been in training for years.

The Chinese military runs the space program and are very secretive. A more powerful rocket for launching bigger payloads is planned. A space station and a lunar mission by 2010 are other long-ranged goals. China is building another launch site on Hainan Island, because a coastal launch site is better in many ways than a land-locked site.