18 September 2021
CGTN presents an English-language documentary on the history and development of China's manned space programme - from the beginning. The documentary starts with interviewing Yang Liwei who admits that he was prepared to not survive his space mission. Very frankly he tell the reporter about the joke among taikonauts at that time: "As long as there is a 50 % chance - I am in!", meaning that everybody would have done this flight if he was selected for that mission. And indeed, Yang talks about the cracks in the windows during re-entry... and there was also the issue with the fire alarm during China's first EVA. A highly recommended documentary!
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short cut to the episode with Yang Liwei: What terrified the first taikonaut?
21 September 2021
In April, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce jointly announced measures to support the construction of Hainan free trade port and widen market access to several industries, including commercial aerospace. Hainan will be supported in building an open international aerospace city and developing commercial aerospace industrial chains such as satellite remote sensing, Beidou Navigation Satellite System and satellite communication among others. In the future, Wenchang International Aerospace City will build a commercial launch base and a world-class market-oriented launch site system.
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20 September 2021
The 3 topics of this week's reporting by Blaine Curcio and Jean Deville are the return of the Shenzhou 12 crew including its orbital manoeuvres before re-entry, an overview on the activities by commercial space companies like Space Transportation and Orienspace and updates on China's Mars UAV.
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16 September 2021
An enhanced version of BeiDou short message service was showcased at the 1st International Summit on Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) Applications held in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province on 16 September. The new technology enables two-way communication on mobile phones in areas not covered by ordinary mobile communication signals or when base stations are damaged, which proves useful during earthquake relief, offshore fishing and emergency communication.
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20 September 2021
China launched on 20 September the Tianzhou 3 cargo space craft to deliver supplies to the Tianhe space module. The CZ-7 Y4 rocket, took off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan Island around 15:00 BJT. At 22:08 BJT, Tianzhou 3 completed an autonomous rendezvous and docking at the rear docking port of the Tianhe core module. The whole process took approximately 6.5 h.
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18 September 2021
The cargo craft Tianzhou 2, currently docked to the Tianhe core module, separated from Tianhe's rear docking port on 18 September at 10:25 BJT. TZ-2 then moved to the front docking port and completed an autonoumous rendezvous and docking. The whole process lasted about 4 hours. The Tianhe-TZ-2 orbital infrastruture is in good condition, waiting for docking with the Tianzhou 3 cargo craft and the Shenzhou 13 manned spaceship.
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