Shuguang One (), meaning "dawn" in
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
, also known as Project 714 (), was the first crewed spacecraft proposed by the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...
during the late 1960s and early 1970s that was never built. The design was for a two-person capsule similar to the
Gemini spacecraft
Project Gemini () was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual ...
, that could be launched in 1973. Because of financial and political problems, Shuguang was cancelled on May 13, 1972.
Early development
As the
Chinese space program
The space program of the People's Republic of China is directed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). China's space program has overseen the development and launch of ballistic missiles, thousands of artificial satellites, manne ...
developed during the sixties, various proposals for crewed spacecraft were made. Serious planning began in 1966, with initial
sub-orbital
A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital re ...
test flights
with animals to be made before a crewed mission.
However, shortly after these plans were made, several leading scientists attached to the project were denounced during the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated go ...
, bringing progress to a standstill.
Planning
As the
Cold War space race
The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the ...
for the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...
between the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
and the United States reached its climax, the Chinese leaders in direct ideological conflict with the
revisionist line of
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev ...
and therefore competing for the leadership of the communist world, decided not to give up the Moon and outer space to the only two superpowers.
Thus, Chairman
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...
and
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 January 1976. Zhou served under Chairman Ma ...
decided on July 14, 1967 to start China's own crewed space program. China first crewed spacecraft was named ''Shuguang-1'' (曙光一号) in January 1968.
China's Space Medical Institute
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, ...
(航天医学工程研究所) was founded on April 1, 1968, where space medical research were conducted. The
Central Military Commission issued the order of starting the selection of astronauts among the
People's Liberation Army Air Force
The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF; ), also known as the Chinese Air Force (中国空军) or the People's Air Force (人民空军), is an aerial service branch of the People's Liberation Army, the regular armed forces of the Peo ...
pilots. The criteria of selection were: 1.59 to 1.74 meters high, 24 to 38 years of age, 55 to 70 kg and 300 hours of flight time. At the end of 1969, after two months of selection and after the screening of 1918 pilots, 215 primary candidates were selected. Then a second phase of screening based on flying techniques, psychological, physiological and general medical examination criteria left only 88 candidates remaining. Dedication to Chinese revolutionary political ideas were also a determinant factor.
[ Nineteen astronauts were chosen when the screening process ended on March 15, 1971, including ]Lu Xiangxiao
Lu, Lü, or LU may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Lu (music), Tibetan folk music
* Lu (duo), a Mexican band
** ''Lu'' (album)
* Character from Mike, Lu & Og
* Lupe Fiasco or Lu (born 1982), American musician
* Lebor na hUidre, a manuscript ...
, Wang Zhiyue
Wang may refer to:
Names
* Wang (surname) (王), a common Chinese surname
* Wāng (汪), a less common Chinese surname
* Titles in Chinese nobility
* A title in Korean nobility
* A title in Mongolian nobility
Places
* Wang River in Thail ...
, Dong Xiaohai and Fang Guojun. During a conference in April 1971, it was decided that the spacecraft should follow the design of the two-person Gemini craft, and the program was deemed "Project 714" after the year and month of the conference. The astronauts were to begin training in November 1971, with the first mission planned for 1973. The Shuguang craft was developed for this purpose and was planned to be launched on the CZ-2A rocket.
New Space Center
In order to support the Chinese 'Project 714' crewed space program in the 1960s, the construction of a new space center at Xichang in the Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of th ...
province was decided, located farther from the border
Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political bo ...
with the Soviet Union, thus safer. The 'Shuguang One' spacecraft was expected to be launched from the launch pad number one. After the cancellation of the program the launch pad was never completed. Today a viewing platform for officials has been built at the site.
Cancellation
Due to the secrecy of the project and its low priority within the Chinese government, funding for Project 714 was meager. When Mao himself was asked to allocate more funds towards the project, he declared that the state must be concerned with terrestrial needs first.[ Because of the lack of funding, the astronauts were released from the project and sent back to their units. On May 13, 1972, the last staff member attached to Project 714 returned to his unit, and the project was officially canceled. During the late 1970s and 1980s, official announcements were made that China's crewed space program was continuing, however, no significant amount of work was done, and these announcements were only ]propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loa ...
.[
]
Design of the Shuguang craft
The actual Shuguang vehicle would have closely resembled the Gemini spacecraft, but would have been lighter and smaller to allow it to be launched by the CZ-2A, which had a maximum payload
Payload is the object or the entity which is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of ...
of 3200 kilograms. The two crewmembers would have been seated in a pressurized crew compartment fitted with ejection seats (in case of an abort scenario) and instruments. The aft section of the spacecraft would have been fitted with orientation engines, propellant tanks and other pieces of hardware. The crew section would have separated from the aft section for reentry, which would have been in the form of a splashdown
Splashdown is the method of landing a spacecraft by parachute in a body of water. It was used by crewed American space capsules prior to the Space Shuttle program, by SpaceX Dragon and Dragon 2 capsules and by NASA's Orion Multipurpose ...
, as there was no soft-landing system designed for the vehicle.[
]
Legacy
Nonetheless, after eight years of development, a fleet of Yuanwang-class space tracking ships for recovery of re-entry vehicles at sea was built. The Space Flight Medical Research Centre
Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...
was founded in Beijing. Recoverable space capsules of the FSW-class, EVA spacesuit
A space suit or spacesuit is a garment worn to keep a human alive in the harsh environment of outer space, vacuum and temperature extremes. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, ...
s, space food, space tracking stations and radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
s, astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
selection process and training and related facilities were developed, laying the ground for the successful Project 921-1
Shenzhou (, ; see ) is a spacecraft developed and operated by China to support its crewed spaceflight program, China Manned Space Program. Its design resembles the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, but it is larger in size. The first launch was on 19 ...
(Shenzhou) that followed three decades later.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shuguang Spacecraft
Cancelled spacecraft
Space program of the People's Republic of China