|
China's manned space flights began in 2003 when former fighter
pilot, Yang Liwei, was sent into orbit in a small bronze-coloured
capsule, the Shenzhou-5, becoming China's first man in space and
an instant hero cheered by millions at home.
"In the future, a new generation of spacecraft will be used on
crewed lunar missions, to build our space station, and for
deep-space exploration," the state-run Guangzhou Daily cited
Yang as saying at a Chinese university on Monday.
Recent tests on the return capsule of the next-generation
spacecraft have been "very successful", with their first flights
estimated to take place between 2027 and 2028, said Yang,
currently deputy chief designer of China's manned spaceflight
project.
The next-generation spacecraft was first tested in 2020.
Since China's space station became operational late last year,
the focus has returned to a project to send astronauts to the
moon by 2030, with engineers recently disclosing more details of
the plan - from the type of carrier rockets to be used to the
spacecraft transporting astronauts and other equipment.
China's current Shenzhou spacecraft, based on Russia's Soyuz,
can transport up to three astronauts to low-Earth orbit. It
consists of a life-support and propulsion module, an in-orbit
module for short-term human habitation, and a re-entry capsule
for their return to earth.
The new generation of crewed spacecraft will comprise just two
parts - the propulsion and the return modules - to allow for
bigger modules and larger carrying capacity of up to seven
people, Zhang Bainan, chief designer of the trial version of the
new-generation spacecraft, said in 2020.
The return module's high heat resistance also allows much of it
to be re-used.
(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
