Shenzhou 1
Encyclopedia
Shenzhou 1 launched on November 19, 1999, was the first unmanned launch of the Shenzhou spacecraft
Shenzhou spacecraft
Shenzhou is a spacecraft developed and operated by the People's Republic of China to support its manned spaceflight program. The name is variously translated as "Divine Craft," "Divine Vessel of God," "Magic Boat" or similar and is also homophonous with an ancient name for China...

. The spacecraft used was not equipped with a life support system or an emergency escape system. After orbiting the Earth 14 times, the command for retrofire was sent by the Yuanwang 3
Yuanwang
The Yuanwang-class are used for tracking and support of satellite and intercontinental ballistic missiles by the People's Liberation Army Navy of the People's Republic of China ....

tracking ship off the coast of Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

 at 18:49 UTC. After a successful reentry it landed about 415 km east of its launch pad and 110 km north-west of Wuhai
Wuhai
Wuhai is a prefecture-level city and regional center in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. It is located on the Huang He between the Gobi and Ordos deserts...

, Inner Mongolia.

The first Shenzhou spacecraft was different from those later used. Instead of featuring unfolding solar panels
Photovoltaic module
A solar panel is a packaged, connected assembly of solar cells, also known as photovoltaic cells...

, Shenzhou 1 was equipped with fixed solar cell
Solar cell
A solar cell is a solid state electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect....

s. During this first flight there were also no orbit changes. According to Qi Faren
Qi Faren
Qi Faren is the chief designer for Chinese spacecraft since the launch of the prototype Shenzhou manned spacecraft in 1999. He was born in 1933 and graduated from the Beijing Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1957...

 the chief designer of the spacecraft, only 8 of the 13 sub-systems on board the spacecraft were operational. Shenzhou 1 was designed primarily to test the Long March 2F
Long March 2F
The Long March 2F , also known as the CZ-2F, LM-2F and Shenjian, is a Chinese manned orbital carrier rocket, part of the Long March rocket family. Designed to launch manned Shenzhou spacecraft, the Long March 2F is a man-rated two-stage version of the Long March 2E rocket, which in turn was based...

 rocket. The only systems and capabilities tested on the spacecraft were the separation of the modules, attitude control, lifting body
Lifting body
A lifting body is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration in which the body itself produces lift. In contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage with little or no conventional wing...

 reentry, the heat shield
Heat shield
A heat shield is designed to shield a substance from absorbing excessive heat from an outside source by either dissipating, reflecting or simply absorbing the heat...

, and ground recovery.

The spacecraft carried 100 kg of seeds to investigate the effects on them of the space environment. It is also thought that the front of the Orbital Module was equipped with a dummy ELINT package, with Shenzhou 2
Shenzhou 2
Shenzhou 2 launched on January 9, 2001, was the second unmanned launch of the Shenzhou spacecraft. Inside the reentry capsule were a monkey, a dog and a rabbit in a test of the spaceship's life support systems...

 onwards equipped with fully functional models.

It was announced in June 1999 that the flight would take place in October of that year. At about the same time images were released on a Chinese military internet forum of the Long March 2F
Long March 2F
The Long March 2F , also known as the CZ-2F, LM-2F and Shenjian, is a Chinese manned orbital carrier rocket, part of the Long March rocket family. Designed to launch manned Shenzhou spacecraft, the Long March 2F is a man-rated two-stage version of the Long March 2E rocket, which in turn was based...

 launcher and the Vehicle Assembly Building that would be used. After a reported propellant explosion at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center is a People's Republic of China space vehicle launch facility .The facility is part of Dongfeng Aerospace City , and is located in the Gobi desert, Ejin Banner , Alxa League , Inner Mongolia, situated about 1,600 km from Beijing.- History :It was founded in 1958,...

(though the explosion was denied by Chinese officials) the launch was pushed back.

Mission parameters

  • Mass: 7,600 kg
  • Perigee: 195 km
  • Apogee: 315 km
  • Inclination: 42.6°
  • Period: 89.6 minutes
  • NSSDC ID: 1999-061A
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