Shenzhou 10

[Kryten]

Shenzhou 10, the last flight to Tiangoing 1, is set for launch tomorrow; the rocket and spacecraft are on the pad, and crew at at the launch site. The launch will be broadcast on CCTV (including over the internet, though their streaming system is a bit unwieldy), though with rather less coverage than previous missions.

Trailer;

Yes, China does do trailers for actual launches

The mission is planned to demonstrate successful operations (e.g. experimentation) by the astronauts within Tiangong, unlike the engineering-orientated earlier flights, causing the lack of 'firsts' for the flight, and hence the lower coverage.

[Latcarf]

I didn't know China wasn't a main player on the ISS.

While ESA is open to China's inclusion, the US is against it. US concerns over the transfer of technology that could be used for military purposes echo similar concerns over Russia's participation prior to its membership.[289] Concerns over Russian involvement were overcome and NASA became solely dependent upon Russian crew capsules when its Shuttles were grounded after the Columbia accident in 2003,[290] and again after its retirement in 2011.[291][292] China believes that international exchanges and cooperation in the field of aerospace engineering should be intensified on the basis of mutual benefit, peaceful use and common development.[283]

VIA:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station#China

I was telling my dad the other night about the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, I was very surprised to hear him be so reluctant about China's space program. He's a college professor who married a Chinese woman, so I'm inclined to believe his opinions have a basis in fact... i just don't know enough about world history i suppose.

Edited June 10, 2013 by Latcarf

[Cesrate]

Oh, tomorrow. Theoretically I can spot every Chinese rockets as I'm near the ascending trajectory, but I haven't done any of it.

[Kryten]

Pre-flight news conference, good overview of the mission;

[AstronautGeologist]

You don't hear much about manned Chinese launches.

[nhnifong]

Oh, tomorrow. Theoretically I can spot every Chinese rockets as I'm near the ascending trajectory, but I haven't done any of it.

Whaaat? Cesrate take a picture!

[Kryten]

You don't hear much about manned Chinese launches.

Not in the western media, but if you know where to look there's a heck of a lot. There's less of it now because of the lack of 'firsts', but with previous ones it's essentially filled the entire chinese media for a good few days.

[tek_604]

I am assuming they will cover the launch live on CCTV in english:

http://english.cntv.cn/live/

[Michael Kim]

Just watched the live!!! It's now in orbit

[rodion_herrera]

Flawless launch, so beautiful to see another manned rocket do a (seemingly) perfect launch.

EDIT: Has achieved its initial parking orbit now. It will rendezvous with the Tiangong-1 space station in about 2 days.

I recorded the launch and here's a peek...

Edited June 11, 2013 by rodion_herrera

[ramses]

Those Astronauts looked like they were kicking back in a lounge room watching T.V.

Congrats China!

[Voidryder]

Thank you for sharing the launch video.

And I have three things to say:

1st: Congratulations on a successful launch!

2nd: That is one sweet looking launch vehicle.

3rd: How come my Kerbals don't wave like that at launch?

[happynoobing]

Here's the full coverage (from ignition to solar panel extension). It's in Chinese but I'm sure most of us here know whats going on just by the graphics.

PS: I feel like Jeb needs some newspapers to read during lift off.

[Michael Kim]

For those who are interested, a quick review of Shenzhou missions:

Shenzhou-1

Launch: 1999.11.20

Mission: Unmanned; tested the launch vehicle as well as the spacecraft; tested the monitoring, ground control and communication systems.

Return: 1999.11.21

Shenzhou-2

Launch: 2001.01.10

Mission: Carried scientific payload. Wikipedia says it carried "monkey, dog, rabbit and other animals" but I cannot find such source in Chinese.

Return: 2001.01.16

Shenzhou-3

Launch: 2002.03.25

Mission: Carried a dummy as well as some scientific payload.

Return: 2002.04.01

Shenzhou-4

Launch: 2002.12.30

Mission: Carried a dummy as well as some scientific payload; spacecraft in full manned state.

Return: 2003.01.05

Shenzhou-5

Launch: 2003.10.15

Crew: Yang Liwei

Mission: First manned mission

Return: 2003.10.16

Shenzhou-6

Launch: 2005.10.12

Crew: Fei Junlong, Nie Haisheng

Mission: First multi-man multi-day mission

Return: 2005.10.17

Shenzhou-7

Launch: 2008.09.25

Crew: Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming, Jing Haipeng

Mission: First space walk (Zhai); scientific payload and missions

Return: 2008.09.28

Shenzhou-8

Launch: 2011.11.01

Mission: Carried a dummy; docked with Tiangong-1; scientific payload

Return: 2011.11.17

Shenzhou-9

Launch: 2012.06.16

Crew: Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang, Liu Yang (female)

Mission: Automated and manual docking with Tiangong-1; living and scientific researches in Tiangong-1

Return: 2012.09.26

All spacecrafts were launched from Jiuquan Launch Center and landed at Siziwangqi.

In Chinese, surname comes first, if you didn't know. Names above are in this order.

All time listed above are in BJT (GMT+8), so you may find the date different on Wikipedia.

For more, please go to Wikipedia (Shenzhou Program, Shenzhou spacecraft), or ask Kryten where you can find things in English

[Michael Kim]

Since the Shenzhou spacecraft design is now settled, Shenzhou-10 is the first application flight (while previous flights were experimental).

Apart from docking with Tiangong-1 as Shenzhou-9 did, there are a few more things to catch our eyes:

1) The woman astronaut Wang Yaping as China's first "Teacher in space" (will be live broadcast)

2) The use of "Space Kitchen", a heating equipment

3) Shenzhou-10 will maneuver around Tiangong-1, for such skill will be needed when building a space station in the future

[Nibb31]

I hope they have ironed out the problems with their docking system. They had quite a lot of trouble with it not latching properly. They have to basically slam into it to make it engage, which can be problematic when they start building their large space station.

[Kryten]

That's not a problem they could e.g. fix by changing the docking method, it's simply inherent to the system; it's designed for docking objects that are much larger than both Shenzhou and Tiangong. That's also partly why this is the last mission to Tiangong-it's only rated for ten dockings, due to how hard they have to hit to get it to engage. Part of ESA's proposed co-operation with the modular station is providing a better-suited port design.

[Michael Kim]

Are those dockings really problematic? I've never seen docking irl other than those with Tiangong-1. And the relative speed was smaller than 0.5m/s, I believe.

Kryten, could you please make a reference to "rated for ten dockings"?

[Kerbface]

I have a question, maybe it's obvious, but why wait 2 days before rendesvous, aren't they normally done in a few hours?

[Nibb31]

No, orbital rendez-vous usually takes several days. In KSP it takes less time because we usually thrust around and burn a lot of fuel, because fuel is cheap and the distances are much smaller.

The usual technique in real life is to inject into an orbit as close as possible to the target, but slightly lower, and to take time to catch up with it slowly. This saves fuel (which allows more payload), and prevents coming in on the target at high speeds and doing last-minute decelerations KSP-style.

However, in March, the Russians actually performed the first ever direct rendez-vous where they took 6 hours instead of several days. This was possible thanks to higher precision in the orbital insertion and improved processes.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/station/exp35/130305rendezvous/#.Ubgu0_nwlKJ

Interestingly, a quick rendez-vous is less comfortable for the crew, because they have to stay seated and suited for the entire flight.

Edited June 12, 2013 by Nibb31

[Kerbface]

Thanks, for whatever reason I always thought a direct insertion would be what they did, wouldn't have thought coordinating the launch to line up would be so hard. Is it possible in future, rendesvous could happen in as little as an hour or so if they manage to get more precision?

[Nibb31]

An hour seems unreasonable. That's less than a single orbit to catch up. It means that you would have to perform the insertion very close to the target, which is dangerous, and that you would be manoeuvering around the target at high relative speeds, which is also dangerous and fuel consuming. There isn't much point really. Even in KSP's scale, it would be a stretch.

There are a whole lot of procedures to perform on orbit before you can dock: deploying antennas, solar panels, reconfiguring the spacecraft, and so on... One hour seems unrealistic.

[Alfastar]

An hour seems unreasonable. That's less than a single orbit to catch up. It means that you would have to perform the insertion very close to the target, which is dangerous, and that you would be manoeuvering around the target at high relative speeds, which is also dangerous and fuel consuming. There isn't much point really. Even in KSP's scale, it would be a stretch.

There are a whole lot of procedures to perform on orbit before you can dock: deploying antennas, solar panels, reconfiguring the spacecraft, and so on... One hour seems unrealistic.

It would be even very unrealistic at this moment to do that. Even in KSP its very hard to dock in less then a hour. So on earth, with real-life spaceflight, would it even very unrealistic. You need to deploy the stuff, tests, critical burns to going to the space station ect. It would not only be unrealistic, but it would cost also more fuel then a normal plan to going to it in a few days.

[magnemoe]

An hour seems unreasonable. That's less than a single orbit to catch up. It means that you would have to perform the insertion very close to the target, which is dangerous, and that you would be manoeuvering around the target at high relative speeds, which is also dangerous and fuel consuming. There isn't much point really. Even in KSP's scale, it would be a stretch.

There are a whole lot of procedures to perform on orbit before you can dock: deploying antennas, solar panels, reconfiguring the spacecraft, and so on... One hour seems unrealistic.

True, has had some frightening encounters during orbital matching. Add that in real world you tend to get lots of delays during launch.

[Michael Kim]

Shenzhou-10 and Tiangong-1 are scheduled to dock around noon (as GMT+8) today. I'm unable to find an exact predicted time given by the official.