Shenzhou-3

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Human Exploration

Low Earth Orbit Launch Area 4 (SLS-1 / 921) Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Third test flight of the Shenzhou spacecraft, without crew on board. Main objective of the mission was to test the systems required to support a human in space. A human dummy was carried in the descent module to simulate the physiological signals of a human. 44 different experiments were carried, including an imaging spectrograph, cloud sensor, radiation sensor, solar ultraviolet monitor, solar constant monitor, atmospheric composition detector, atmospheric density detector, multi-chamber space crystallization furnace, space protein crystal equipment, a cell bioreactor, a solid matter tracking detector, and a microgravity gauge. Also on board was a video camera that broadcast images of the Earth as seen through one of the windows on the spacecraft.

Long March 2F

Family:
Configuration: F

The Long March 2F is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket, part of the Long March 2 rocket family. Designed to launch the crewed Shenzhou spacecraft, the Long March 2F is a human-rated two-stage version of the Long March 2E rocket, which in turn was based on the Long March 2C launch vehicle. It is launched from complex SLS at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    62.0 m
  • Diameter
    3.35 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    3.35 m
  • Launch Mass
    464.0 T
  • Thrust
    5985.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Long March 2F
  • Family
  • Variant
    F
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Long March 2F
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    8400.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Shenzhou 3


Active Human Rated Unmanned Crew Capacity: 3
Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Serial Number: 3

This was the first Shenzhou spacecraft launched that could have actually carried a human and as such the main objective of the mission was to test the systems required to support a human in space. On board it carried a dummy to simulate physiological signals of a human — palpitation, pulse, breathing, eating, metabolism, and excretion.

Shenzhou Details

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

(CASC)

Chairman & President: Lei Fanpei Founded: 1999 Successes: 528 Failures: 14 Pending: 6

Agency Type:

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is the main contractor for the Chinese space program. It is state-owned and has a number of subordinate entities which design, develop and manufacture a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategic and tactical missile systems, and ground equipment. It was officially established in July 1999 as part of a Chinese government reform drive, having previously been one part of the former China Aerospace Corporation. Various incarnations of the program date back to 1956.

INFO WIKI

Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Launch Area 4 (SLS-1 / 921)


Electron
Deployed
1 day, 9 hours ago
JENNA
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (Launch Area 0 C) - Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA

Sub-orbital launch under Rocket Lab’s Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) program, details TBD.


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 15 hours ago
NROL-48
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Eleventh batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office…


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 22 hours ago
Starlink Group 10-27
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 16 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-12
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


New Shepard
Success
5 days, 20 hours ago
NS-35
West Texas Suborbital Launch Site/ Corn Ranch - Corn Ranch, Van Horn, TX, USA

NS-35 is the 35th flight for the New Shepard program. This flight will fly more than 40 scientific and research payloads to space and back, including…


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 23 hours ago
Starlink Group 10-61
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 2C/YZ-1S
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
SatNet test satellites
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Officially described as "Satellite-Internet Technology Demonstration Satellite(s)". Probably test satellites for the Chinese state-owned LEO commu…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Cygnus CRS-2 NG-23 (S.S. William “Willie” C. McCool)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

This is the 23rd flight of the Northrop Grumman's uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its 22nd flight to the International Space Station under th…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Starlink Group 17-10
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
Glonass-K1 No. 18 (Kosmos 2595) & Kosmos 2596
43/3 (43L) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Glonass-K1 are the third generation of satellite design for GLONASS satellite navigation system. GLONASS is a Russian space-based navigation system c…