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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 04, 2002

12 Chinese Astronauts Tested & Getting Ready for Spaceflight

"From among the 12, there must be two to three, who are going to be the first batch of astronauts," enthused Qin Wenbo, Deputy Commander-in-Chief as soon as he got off the train.


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"At the satellite launching site in Jiuquan, we've for the first time come across the first batch of Chinese astronauts trained on our own. They, 12 in total, are all pilots of fighter planes." Monday 9:30 a.m. saw the triumphant return of the personnel of the Shanghai Astronautics Bureau when they brought to an end of the flight of "Shenzhou III". "From among the 12, there must be two to three, who are going to be the first batch of astronauts," enthused, Qin Wenbo, Deputy Commander-in-Chief as soon as he got off the train.

"Shenzhou III" Launched
China launched another unmanned spacecraft, "Shenzhou III", 10:15PM March, 25, (Beijing Time) from Jiuquan Satellite Launching Center of Gansu Province, and ten minutes after blast-off, the spaceship entered its preset orbit. In Detail>>>
According to the report, the "Shenzhou III" spaceship successfully launched on 25 March has further verified the performance, the coordination of all systems and environment for manned spaceflight, with the emphasis laid on the performance test of the newly added equipment for escapement and emergency lifesaving of astronauts. According to reliable sources, "Shenzhou III" has an automatic trouble shooting system for use either prior to the launching or during the ascending flight. If a launch accident occurs the escapement tower at the top of the rocket automatically ignites and quickly separates the module for astronauts from the carrier rocket and thus permits escape from the dangerous area and for a safe return back to land.

To test the performance of the escapement system the 12 astronauts came to the Jiuquan Launching Site too. According to Qin Wenbo, the 12 were selected from over 2000 pilots and so they are of the highest psychological quality. During the escapement test on the ground all of them required 5 seconds exit the danger zone. The names of the first from among the first batch of 12 astronauts to go into the space will be announced prior to the launch of "Shenzhou V" , Qin Wenbo revealed.

The ratio of success of Chinese rockets and spacecraft ensures 97 percent safety and the other three percent made up by the sophisticated escapement system, make for one hundred percent certainty for the safety of the lives of our astronauts.

As I was told, the training of the Chinese astronauts roughly include the study of elementary theory, the training for expertise and training of some other tasks. However, running through the whole course is the physical and psychological training, such as the endurance training, the endurance for low atmospheric pressure and running short of oxygen and the simulation of the loss of gravity - the astronauts flying in a plane which takes a vertically parabolic path and this induces short-term weightlessness.



By PD Online Staff Han Rongliang


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