This is the second crewed mission for China's Shenzhou program. Shenzhou-6 began its mission by carrying astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng into low Earth orbit. During their mission, astronauts conducted scientific experiments, which mainly had to do with how human body responds to spaceflight. After almost 5 days in orbit Shenzhou-6 deorbited and landed back safely on Earth on 16 October.
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.
Shenzhou 6 was the second human spaceflight of the Chinese space program, launched on October 12, 2005 on a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The Shenzhou spacecraft carried a crew of Fèi Jùnlóng (费俊龙) and Niè Hǎishèng (聂海胜) for five days in low Earth orbit. It launched three days before the second anniversary of China's first human spaceflight, Shenzhou 5.
Shenzhou Details
Date of
Birth: May 5, 1965
Age: 60
Date of
Birth: Oct. 13, 1964
Age: 61
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 WIKIRide-share launch of 8 satellites to sun-synchronous orbit. Details TBD.
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Note: Payload and customer identities were not publicly announced. 4th of the BlackSky Gen-3 high resolution Earth-imaging satellites.