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[quote=BITTERSWEET,326690]China to mass produce Shenzhou spaceship  
 
 
www.chinaview.cn  2008-09-26 12:09:27

BEIJING, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- China will begin the mass production of its Shenzhou (Divine Vessel) spacecraft starting from Shenzhou 8, the chief designer of the spacecraft system of China's manned space program told Xinhua Friday.

Zhang Bainan said the mass-produced model will serve as a shuttle between China's space station and the ground, and may also transport astronauts and cargo for other countries.

The ground test is already being done on the prototype of the Shenzhou 8, He said, adding that a raft of ground tests and the seven successful outer space missions from Shenzhou 1 to Shenzhou 7 have laid "solid technical foundation" for the confirmation of final design.

After Shenzhou 6 blasted off Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng into outer space in 2005, the two astronaut, together with China's first taikonaut Yang Liwei, proposed many changes to the design of spacecraft. The upgraded Shenzhou 7 that is now running smoothly on its projected orbit, for instance, contained more than 220 improvements, big or small, based on Shenzhou 6.

"We have been very open-minded in absorbing the input from all fields concerned for better design and function. This explains why our spacecraft technology has developed rapidly," Zhang said.

The finalized model would look roughly the same as the current one in use, but its interior decoration would be much comfier, he noted.

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