Launch News Shenzhou 9, Long March 2F, June 16, 2012 (mission updates)

[N_Molson]

Congratulations to China for that successful manned launch, and best wishes for the station docking. :thumbup:

because the Chinese are definitely more scared of a failure than the Russians

Russians have a perfect record of safety concerning those last years manned missions...

 

[Codz]

I got quite a few good screenshots of the launch.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

The docking with Tiangong 1 is scheduled at around 06:00 UTC on June 18 (it will be an automatic one). The manual docking test is planned on Day 6 of the flight.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

For those who missed the launch:

High-resolution pictures:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Photos from the Beijing control center:

 

[astrosammy]

Nice images, but would it be possible to post them in a low-bandwith friendly version?
It's just a pain to view this launch threads when it takes minutes to load them.

 

[N_Molson]

I wasn't aware that the LRBs and the First Stage separate at the same time. Interesting.

BTW those pics are excellent ! (optic fiber rules :lol

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Nice images, but would it be possible to post them in a low-bandwith friendly version?
It's just a pain to view this launch threads when it takes minutes to load them.

Unfortunately (or fortunately for photo collectors: it wasn't until late last year that we finally got high-res photos for the Chinese space program!) the source that I took these photos (news reports from the Xinhua news agency) are of this size, and I don't know how to compress the photos without losing resolution...

I wasn't aware that the LRBs and the First Stage separate at the same time. Interesting.

BTW those pics are excellent ! (optic fiber rules :lol

It wasn't up until Shenzhou 7: at that time the boosters separates at T+144 seconds. Later the booster structures were re-designed to increase their propellant load by 4 tonnes (to 45 tonnes), and now they separate at T+155 seconds. The first stage separates at T+160 seconds.

 

[N_Molson]

And, is it just an impression or does the Shenzhou Descent Module looks a little less cramped than the SoyuzTMA SA ? :hmm:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

And, is it just an impression or does the Shenzhou Descent Module looks a little less cramped than the SoyuzTMA SA ? :hmm:

You have sharp eyes! :thumbup: One of Shenzhou's "improvements" from the Soyuz spacecraft is that the re-entry vehicle has a 13% increase in its volume. The diameter of Shenzhou's re-entry vehicle is 2.52 meters at its bottom, as opposed to 2.19 meters on the Soyuz.

Here's another video with more shots of the launch:

 

[DaveS]

Unfortunately (or fortunately for photo collectors: it wasn't until late last year that we finally got high-res photos for the Chinese space program!) the source that I took these photos (news reports from the Xinhua news agency) are of this size, and I don't know how to compress the photos without losing resolution...

You could convert the IMGs to URLs instead. Then the images aren't loaded when the thread is easing the load on those without high speed connections.

 

[Donamy]

Even if they go to to the Moon one day, we were there first.

Yes, but what have you done for me lately ?

 

[Yoda]

Simulating the mission !
Would be great if we can update this add-on.

 

[orb]

You could convert the IMGs to URLs instead. Then the images aren't loaded when the thread is easing the load on those without high speed connections.

Alternatively, as I can see those are attachments from NASASpaceflight Forums, you can put the address to the attachment in [URL=], and address to thumbnail in [IMG] embedded in that [URL] tag, which is resized version of the image (a new image) with dimensions no larger than 400 pixels on either side, e.g.:

[PLAIN][url="http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=27391.0;attach=418987"][img]http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=27391.0;attach=418987;image[/img][/url][/PLAIN]

BTW, although I wasn't here on forums, and I had no Internet connection where I was, I found CCTV English on Hotbird satellite, so I could watch it live. Strangely, they didn't call them taikonauts, but astronauts. Great launch! :thumbup:



NASASpaceflight: Chinese Long March 2F/G launches Shenzhou-9 on historic mission

CBS News Space: China launches manned mission to dock with prototype station module

SPACE.com: China Launches 1st Female Astronaut and 2 Men to Space Lab

Parabolic Arc: China Launches 3 Astronauts to Tiangong-1 Space Station

Aviation Week: China Launches Its First Woman into Space

Universe Today: Shenzhou 9 Launches With First Chinese Woman

collectSPACE: China launches first crewed space docking mission, first female taikonaut

The Planetary Society Blog: Shenzhou-9 reaches orbit

Florida Today: China launches first female Taikonaut

 

[Mikeol1987]

Awesome launch, thanks for all the info guys. I have made a video in tribute of todays launch, should be on my youtube fairly shortly.

I really like the set up of the Shenzhou Rocket, it certainly looks like it causes less pollution than the space shuttle!

 

[NovaSilisko]

it certainly looks like it causes less pollution than the space shuttle!

Considering it uses HNO3 and UDMH fuel for the first and second stages, both of which are highly toxic and corrosive...I have serious doubts.

 

[N_Molson]

it certainly looks like it causes less pollution than the space shuttle!

Yeah, I really don't see where that statement comes from. :blink: The only thing generating pollution in the STS were the SRBs... And since they were recovered by boats they did not pollute the bottom of the oceans. The SSMEs rejected water vapor.

HNO3 = Nitric acid (a moderatly lethal poison, but a extremely corrosive agent)
N2O4 = Nitrogen Peroxyde (which toxicity is proven and has medium or long term effects like lungs/heart diseases on human & animal health)

 

[Mikeol1987]

I Was talking about Air Pollution anyway
Forgive me for not having a degree in chemistry.

 

[streb2001]

Simulating the mission !
Would be great if we can update this add-on.

Majortom and I discussed it briefly but time was a problem. I would like to update it though, perhaps this summer holiday. Back in 2007 I already started a then conjectural Shenzhou 10 mission with ISS docking adaptor:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Majortom and I discussed it briefly but time was a problem. I would like to update it though, perhaps this summer holiday. Back in 2007 I already started a then conjectural Shenzhou 10 mission with ISS docking adaptor:

Heh, I have been trying to modify your add-on with updated meshes and textures for the past week (along with trying to make a TG-1 add-on), but ran into problems with meshing and texturing (one of which I shall post later here). I can help you guys with finding and translating Chinese resources, so feel free to ask me if you need help with photos and information. :tiphat:

GPS