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#20
by
Satori
on 10 Jun, 2013 19:28
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Wang Yaping, being the youngest of the group (I think!), will probably be eligible for a Commanding position on a next flight to TG-2.
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#21
by
hal9000
on 11 Jun, 2013 11:14
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Have we had any conformation on the backup crew for SZ-10 yet?
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#22
by
tonyq
on 11 Jun, 2013 16:04
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Wang Yaping, being the youngest of the group (I think!), will probably be eligible for a Commanding position on a next flight to TG-2.
Further references in today's coverage to Wang Yaping being trained to carry out the manual docking. There was never any mention of Liu Yang doing this, last year, so it may well be an additional skill that Wang has been trained in, during the extra year preparation she has had. That raised the question, Why?
In we fast forward 4 or 5 years, the 1998 guys will all be retired, or close to it and Wang and Liu could well be the senior members of the team, albeit still in their mid/late thirties, so putting all this together, Rui could be on to something here!
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#23
by
tonyq
on 11 Jun, 2013 16:07
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Have we had any conformation on the backup crew for SZ-10 yet?
No, I don't think we have, but the same names were circulating for a week or two before the mission, so I feel that there is a very high probability that they are correct (Liu/Pan/Deng)
I doubt we will get an official announcement now, so the best chance is for a stray photo to turn up somewhere on the web.
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#24
by
npuentes
on 13 Jun, 2013 17:16
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I find it interesting that Nie Haisheng has served as prime (SZ-6, 10) or backup (SZ-5, 7, 9) on every Shenzhou mission. He's virtually the Chinese equivalent of John Young!
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#25
by
ashotb
on 15 Jun, 2013 12:16
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I find it interesting that Nie Haisheng has served as prime (SZ-6, 10) or backup (SZ-5, 7, 9) on every Shenzhou mission. He's virtually the Chinese equivalent of John Young!
In fact, he does not have an equivalent at all - he is the one and only, as NOBODY else has ever been enrolled in prime or backup crews of ALL manned spaceflights to this point.
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#26
by
Paolo
on 18 Jun, 2013 10:13
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Does anyone know the date of birth of Zhang Xiaoguang ?
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#27
by
Satori
on 18 Jun, 2013 10:20
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Does anyone know the date of birth of Zhang Xiaoguang ?
The only info available is that he was born on May 1966.
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#28
by
TALsite
on 02 Sep, 2014 20:14
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Bumped!
Do you see any rookie taikonaut on your summer holidays?
Just to say that the 27th Planetary Congress of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) will take place in Beijing on September 10th to 15th.
http://www.space-explorers.org
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#29
by
Satori
on 13 Sep, 2014 20:13
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From Xinhua,
China plans to train engineers to be astronauts.
"
The country will finish the third round of astronaut selection in the next two years..."
"
However, in the third round of selection, there will not be new female astronauts since two have been on active service..."
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#30
by
tonyq
on 19 Oct, 2014 09:14
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I am bumping this thread, as Rui (Satori) and I have recently been gathering information on the current status of the 21 taikonauts of Groups 1 and 2, to try and establish who will/won't be eligible to fly on SZ-11 in 2016, and beyond.
We've also been looking past 2016, examining the age profile of the current groups and considering the need to generate more 'veterans' to command the intial manned missions to the CSS from 2018 onwards.
Our initial thoughts suggest that there may only be 11 taikonauts eligible for assignment to SZ-11 prime/back-up/support crews.
We will share our wider thoughts/conclusions/ideas in the next couple of weeks, but, in the meantime, if anyone has any information or speculation they would like to contribute to our information gathering, please feel free to share now. Thanks.
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#31
by
TALsite
on 19 Oct, 2014 23:20
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We will share our wider thoughts/conclusions/ideas in the next couple of weeks, but, in the meantime, if anyone has any information or speculation they would like to contribute to our information gathering, please feel free to share now. Thanks.
Ok, hope this may help
This is a .pdf from my database with the
active Chinese cosmonauts.
List is sorted by:
1-Time from their last spaceflight
2-Selection group
3-Their actual age (if it's known their DOB)
Edited:ALL chinese cosmonauts
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#32
by
Satori
on 29 Aug, 2015 17:59
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A bump on this thread for no special reason. We cannot only remember them when a Shenzhou mission is about to be.
Any recente news about the Taikonauts?
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#33
by
Phillip Clark
on 29 Aug, 2015 18:39
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When I met Tony Quine we discussed the Shenzhou 10 back-up crew which has been rumoured but in reality we have no idea who this might have been.
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#34
by
tonyq
on 30 Aug, 2015 17:26
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When I met Tony Quine we discussed the Shenzhou 10 back-up crew which has been rumoured but in reality we have no idea who this might have been.
I recall that conversation Phil, and at the time of SZ-10 our best guestimate for the back-up crew was Liu Boming/Pan Zhanchun/Deng Qingming and these names did appear briefly on some Chinese language websites, before disappearing. The logic was that Liu was a veteran who could serve as commander and Pan and Deng were rookies from 1998, and possibly the only two still eligible for selection, as some of the others seem likely to have retired, or been disqualified.
Turning to Rui's post, yes, it has been very quiet on the topic for a while, but hopefully it will change in the months ahead. In September 2014, Yang Liwei said that selection of the third group of Chinese astronauts would be completed 'within two years'. As the 2010 selection took about 9/10 months from start to finish, they should start that process before the end of 2015? That said, there is no guarantee that they will tell the outside world when they begin!
Equally, TG-2 and SZ-11 campaigns should take place in 2016, so we may get some hints about the crew over the next six months or so. Most likely option seems to suggest either Liu Wang or Zhang Xiaoguang to command, with two of the 2010 male group. They need to generate more flown men, who are young enough to command SZ missions in the 2017-2020 time frame.
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#35
by
TALsite
on 31 Aug, 2015 17:40
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I lived the secretism of the Soviet Manned Space Program before the glasnot, and I will never understand why Chinese Space Authorities are doing the same in the 21st Century...
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#36
by
Satori
on 10 Oct, 2015 12:52
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According to SinoDefence twitter, Shenzhou 7 flight engineer Liu Boming has been promoted to Major General.
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#37
by
ZachS09
on 13 Oct, 2015 01:21
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Since the backup crew of Shenzhou 9 flew on Shenzhou 10, I'm guessing that Boming, Zhanchun, and Qingming will fly on Shenzhou 11. So, here's my theory of the Shenzhou 11 crew:
Commander: Liu Boming (2)
Operator 1: Pan Zhanchun (1)
Operator 2: Deng Qingming (1)
Boming would sit in the center seat with Qingming on his left-hand side and Zhanchun on his right-hand side.
"IF I'M WRONG ABOUT THIS ASSUMPTION, PLEASE LET ME KNOW"
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#38
by
Phillip Clark
on 13 Oct, 2015 06:06
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So we know with any certainty who the back-up crew were for Shenzhou 10? I thought that they are unknown despite online rumours "naming" them.
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#39
by
tonyq
on 13 Oct, 2015 09:44
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Since the backup crew of Shenzhou 9 flew on Shenzhou 10, I'm guessing that Boming, Zhanchun, and Qingming will fly on Shenzhou 11. So, here's my theory of the Shenzhou 11 crew:
Commander: Liu Boming (2)
Operator 1: Pan Zhanchun (1)
Operator 2: Deng Qingming (1)
Boming would sit in the center seat with Qingming on his left-hand side and Zhanchun on his right-hand side.
"IF I'M WRONG ABOUT THIS ASSUMPTION, PLEASE LET ME KNOW"
Phil is right, that we don't know for sure who the back-up SZ-10 crew were, although there were many suggestions at the time that it was this trio.
However, I think you are wrong about your assumption that this will be the SZ-11 crew.
Firstly, there is a lot of evidence that shows that after each manned campaign the back-up crews are dissolved and new selection process start for the next mission or series of missions (in the case of SZ-9 and SZ-10). I you dispute this theory, take a look at the back-up for SZ-5, SZ-6 and SZ-7. A back-up role does not guarantee and seat on the next flight. SZ-9 and SZ-10 were a little different as they were closely linked missions, and they wanted to fly both girls.
SZ-11 marks the start of a new campaign, and I would expect them to start crew selection with a blank canvass.
Then there is the issue of experience. It appears that 50 is the retirement age for taikonauts, and SZ-11 appears to be the only manned flight to TG-2 before they begin manned flights to the CSS in c2018. Their own requirements are that an veteran must command each flight. The original 1998 cohort are getting past or close to retirement, and all will be too old by 2020, so they will run out of veterans fairly soon, and need to generate new experienced flyers, from the 2010 group, who will lead the CSS flights when they start.
Whilst Liu Boming is a possible commander for SZ-11, I suspect that Liu Wang or Zhang Xiaoguan are more likely, having flown the previous docking missions, with two rookies for the 2010 cohort going up, to be blooded, as possible future commanders regular flight to the CSS begin.
Discuss!! :-)
