Chinese Spacecraft Shenzhou 8 Lands Successfully

Chinese Spacecraft Shenzhou 8 Lands Successfully

An unmanned spacecraft known as the Shenzhou 8 landed in China’s western desert on Thursday after more than 2 weeks of orbiting in the outer space.

Shenzou 8 docketed twice with the Tiangong module which remain in orbit, proving that China is capable of landing using a mere remote control compared to the early U.S. astronauts wherein they did it manually. According to Wang Zhaoyao, deputy director of China manned Space Engineering Office, this is another major breakthrough for China’s space rendezvous and landing technology program. Likewise, Wang Zhaoyao added that China is willing to accommodate other experts and contributions to foster mutual respect, transparency, mutual benefit and openness.

Next year, China will conduct more space missions, one of which will be an unmanned space craft and expected to return at around 2020.

Currently, China has shown consistent development towards space technology since 2003.  After being rebuffed to join the ISS, China created its independent space station program.

Wang likewise stated that China still needs to master a few space technologies independently. China is ready to cooperate in the name of science and development and has once worked with other countries like Russia, Germany, France and other nations.

Posted by James Fried on Saturday November 19 2011, 12:55 PM EDT. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0