06 May 2020
China's space station is scheduled to be completed around 2022, with 12 launch missions planned, Ji Qiming, assistant to the director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, said at a press conference on 5 May. The astronaut crew for the four flight missions necessary for the construction of the space station have been selected and are undergoing training, according to Ji. The selection of the third-batch reserve astronauts will be rolled out in the middle of this year. Meanwhile, China has completed the assembly of the space station's core module. The two experiment capsules and scientific payloads are under development.
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06 May 2020
A flexible and inflatable cargo return capsule that China sent into space for test for the first time operated abnormally during its return to the ground on 6 May, according to the China Manned Space Agency. The reverse umbrella-shaped Flexible Inflatable Cargo Reentry Vehicle, first of its kind in China, was scheduled to make a parachute-assisted landing inside the Dongfeng Landing Site in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region to finish its 19-hour journey. However, malfunctions took place during the re-entry process and experts are analyzing available data, the agency said in a brief statement, without giving details.
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06 May 2020
The trial version of China's new-generation manned spaceship is now working normally in orbit, having completed a series of operations as planned, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) on 6 May. So far, the new spaceship, developed by the China Academy of Space Technology under the CASC, has unfolded its solar panels and positioned them toward the sun, deployed its relay antenna and established a relay communication link, as well as conducted autonomous orbit control four times. It is now in a stable flight attitude in a highly elliptical orbit, with the power supply, measurements and control links normal, said the CASC.
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08 May 2020
The return capsule of the trial version of China's new-generation manned spaceship successfully returned to the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 13:49 h (Beijing Time) on 8 May, to the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre. The center said in a statement at the beginning of the re-entry process, the prototype activated its brake engines after receiving control signals from the center, shortly after starting to move toward the Earth. The re-entry module then separated from the prototype's service module and began to fall back to the atmosphere. As the module approached the ground, it released parachutes to decelerate before finally landing at 13:49 h on the Dongfeng Landing Site in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
The craft was spotted and recovered by personnel from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre.
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