神舟一号
China has launched six crewed Shenzhou missions, beginning with Shenzhou-5 in 2003 and most recently Shenzhou-11 in 2016.
China has conducted rendezvous and docking operations in low Earth orbit using Shenzhou, Tiangong, and Tianzhou spacecraft, but the Chang’e-5 docking will be the first robotic docking operation in lunar orbit nearly 400,0 m from Earth.
A crewed Shenzhou flight to the Chinese space station is planned to launch from Jiuquan after the Tianhe core module.
China has planned about 12 flight missions for the construction of its space station, including module launches, Tianzhou cargo and refueling craft, and crewed Shenzhou missions.
China has planned about 12 flight missions for construction of China’s space station, including launches of modules, Tianzhou cargo and refueling craft, and crewed Shenzhou missions.
The Chang’e-5 return capsule will perform a skip reentry after separating from the orbiter near Earth and will deliver samples to the same site used by China’s Shenzhou crewed missions for landing.
The Long March 5B test flight will carry an uncrewed next-generation human spaceflight spacecraft that succeeds the 7.8-metric-ton Shenzhou, will feature partial reusability, and will have a maximum launch mass of around 23,000 kg.
The 20-metric-ton next-generation crewed spacecraft is designed to carry up to six astronauts to deep space and the moon, while the current Shenzhou spacecraft is 8,000 kg and carries three astronauts to low Earth orbit.
China currently uses 7.8-ton Shenzhou spacecraft based on the Soyuz for trips to low Earth orbit.
Construction of the three-module Chinese Space Station will require more than a dozen launches including modules, Shenzhou and Tianzhou spacecraft, and a co-orbiting optical module.