Questions tagged [shenzhou]

The tag has no usage guidance.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
5 votes
2 answers
777 views

Why does the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft appear square in this picture?

In this article, the attached image, captioned "The Shenzhou-12 capsule bears the scorch marks from the heat of re-entry," really caught my eye - it looks like they dropped a shipping ...
bendl's user avatar
  • 294
1 vote
0 answers
145 views

Why do the Shenzhou seating assignments differ from Soyuz?

The Shenzhou spacecraft is China's crewed space vehicle. It is derived from the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. According to Wikipedia, The commander sits in the center seat on both spacecraft. However, ...
DrSheldon's user avatar
  • 47.9k
4 votes
1 answer
274 views

Are these statements about "a first use of grid fins by China" simply wrong?

Ars Technica's Rocket Report: China discovers grid fins, NASA acknowledges Starship program says: China experiments with grid fins. The launch of a Long March 2C from Xichang last week included a ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
4 votes
1 answer
207 views

Were there any manned missions into orbit that went not to the ISS since the end of the Shuttle?

I know the Chinese did some to their own space station, but were there missions like the repair or retrieve missions the Space Shuttle did with for example the Hubble telescope?
MrHorse's user avatar
  • 43
6 votes
1 answer
239 views

Have there been any other "camsats" besides Banxing-2?

Banxing-2 is a 47 kg LEO satellite deployed from China's Tiangong-2 on 22 October 2016. It is planned to say in an orbit matched to Tiangong-2 so that it stays in close proximity. According to Gunter'...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
0 votes
0 answers
115 views

What is this yellow light on the side of the 2nd stage nozzle - Shenzhou-11 launch

According to Wikipedia the single engine on the 2nd stage is a YF-20 series engine. What is causing the faint yellow light on the side of the nozzle where there is a tube wrapped around it? above: ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
1 vote
0 answers
147 views

How are the major components arranged in the Shenzhou-11 at launch?

I can't exactly figure out where the first stage ends and the second stage begins and where all three components of the Shenzhou-11 space craft are located inside the fairing. The Wikipedia image of ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
0 votes
1 answer
211 views

Is the Shenzhou-11 crew's capsule just launched windowless?

It appears that the crew capsule in today's launch of the Shenzhou-11 crew has no windows. Windows present a lot of design tradeoffs, but can come in handy in some situations. Is this capsule ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
9 votes
1 answer
894 views

What are these four "waffle-like" structures on top of the Long March 2F just launched?

Near the top of the Long March 2F rocket (middle of the fairing?) that launched today with the Shenzhou-11 crew, there are four square wafffle-like structures that remind me of grid fins. What are ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
19 votes
1 answer
3k views

What's falling off the Shenzhou/Long March stack?

Watching the launch of the Shenzhou-11 mission on a Long March 2F, I noticed a number of items falling off the exterior of the rocket. I'm used to seeing chunks of ice sheet coming off of cryogenic ...
Russell Borogove's user avatar