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#40
by
Phillip Clark
on 13 Oct, 2015 10:33
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Tony, this might sound crazy but might the Chinese consider a female commander for a flight to the station scheduled to begin in 2018?
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#41
by
tonyq
on 13 Oct, 2015 13:05
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Tony, this might sound crazy but might the Chinese consider a female commander for a flight to the station scheduled to begin in 2018?
Phil, as we all know, it is difficult to try to guess what the Chinese might do, but it does seem to me that by 2018 or so, they will have very few 'veterans' who are under the age of 50, but that number will include the two women.
I suspect that Liu Yang will be regarded as a 'national treasure' and therefore not likely to be assigned again, but Wang Yaping is a different case, and I would have thought that she will be eligible for consideration as a future Shenzhou commander. Probably not for SZ-11, but maybe once the CSS is launched and being visited regularly - maybe twice a year from 2018 onwards.
At the time of SZ-10, it emerged that Wang had trained to dock SZ-10, and although she didn't do this in orbit, it did imply that she might already have been on a different training and development regime to Liu Yang.
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#42
by
ZachS09
on 16 Oct, 2015 18:22
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Thanks, tonyq.
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#43
by
tonyq
on 22 Feb, 2016 13:22
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With the indications in other threads about a possible SZ-12 visit to TG-2, in addition to the long planned SZ-11, it is perhaps time to bump this thread and stimulate a bit of crewing discussion and speculation.
For SZ-9/10 campaign, the Chinese selected a pool of nine taikonauts and formed them into three crews. There were three veterans who were the commanders and they have since said that it is a requirement that each crew includes an experienced crew member.
They have also said in the past, and Yang Liwei himself has said this, that no one can fly aged over 50 years. This is aligned to PLAAF pilot age limits.
If these parameters still apply, and there is no reason to think that they don't, then they will shape the crewing options, to a very significant degree.
Most of the 1998 selection are now over 50 with only Liu Wang and Zhang Xiaoguan having flown, and still being under 50, by the end of 2016. So it seems a reasonable bet that they will be two of the commanders.
The third commander spot is trickier. Liu Boming who was back-up for SZ-10 is 50 later this year. Will he still be available for assignment, or is he out of the picture? If he is not available, it leaves only the two women, and of these Liu Yang seems unlikely to fly again, as she is a 'national treasure' and had a child in 2014. This leaves only Wang Yaping.
Assuming that they are all fit and qualified, the five rookie men from 2010 should logically form the bulk of the cohort, which leaves us one short of the nine. Ideally they need to fly several of these guys over the TG-2 campaign to generate a reasonable flow of younger future commanders for the CSS era.
If either of the rookie back-up crew from SZ-10 (Deng Qingmin and Pan Zhanchun) are still under 50, then they could be part of the six rookies and give us the nine required.
Discuss!
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#44
by
Phillip Clark
on 22 Feb, 2016 13:39
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I wasn't aware that the Shenzhou 10 back-ups had been confirmed by the Chinese.
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#45
by
tonyq
on 22 Feb, 2016 14:34
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I wasn't aware that the Shenzhou 10 back-ups had been confirmed by the Chinese.
Yes, Phil, you are right, although I think there were enough sources who gave these names at the time, and they were entirely logical, for us to be fairly happy that they were the right trio. It is not clear why the Chinese didn't name them when all the previous back-up crews were totally visible.
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#46
by
Nordren
on 28 Feb, 2016 20:23
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The announcement of the launch schedule for Tiangong-2, Shenzhou-11 and Tianzhou-1 by
Xinhua says SZ-11 will take just TWO taikonauts to TG-2. So, a longer stay in orbit for the crew compared with SZ-9 & 10 missions?
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#47
by
Steven Pietrobon
on 29 Feb, 2016 00:44
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The announcement of the launch schedule for Tiangong-2, Shenzhou-11 and Tianzhou-1 by Xinhua says SZ-11 will take just TWO taikonauts to TG-2. So, a longer stay in orbit for the crew compared with SZ-9 & 10 missions?
It certainly looks like it. The article says the taikonauts will be performing a "medium-term stay".
"During the process, China will verify key technologies including cargo transportation, on-orbit propellant resupply, astronauts' medium-term stay, as well as conduct space science and application experiments on a relatively large scale, the spokesperson said."
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#48
by
TALsite
on 01 Mar, 2016 13:08
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From Go Taikonauts!
http://www.go-taikonauts.com/en/chinese-space-news/1263-next-manned-chinese-space-mission-is-planned-to-last-one-monthNext manned Chinese space mission is planned to last one month
The plan is to have them stay inside the new lab for 30 days, doubling the previous Chinese record for the longest manned space mission. Nie Haisheng, chief of China's astronaut brigade, says staying in space for a longer period of time comes with a number of challenges.
And from
http://english.cri.cn/12394/2016/03/01/3746s918563.htmNie Haiseng has also said
...in the future, our astronauts are going to have to complete a lot of tasks during the space walks, as they will have to deal with issues such as equipment transfers, installation, repairs, maintenance and disassembling different components. We also have plans to carry out some scientific experiments outside the space capsule.
IMO I think EVA plans will come with the SZ-12 flight (and 3 crewmen?).
And with EVA plans, maybe Liu Boming would be a good CDR because he has also experience on EVA from his previous SZ-7 flight.
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#49
by
Olaf
on 15 May, 2016 07:50
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#50
by
tonyq
on 15 May, 2016 22:57
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https://twitter.com/ESA_CAVES/status/541648706484064256
Here a photo with Ye Guangfu and Chen Dong.
Maybe someone at ESA has some more.
Based on their policy of the last 18 odd years, of keeping unflown taikonauts out of photographs, someone has slipped up here. As you ask, has anyone at ESA got anymore, particularly the remaining three 2010 men?
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#51
by
tonyq
on 26 Jun, 2016 07:29
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#52
by
Satori
on 20 Jul, 2016 21:37
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#53
by
SMS
on 31 Aug, 2016 20:47
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ChinaSpaceflight @cnspaceflight
王亚平
Wang Yaping
1.09 at 8 CCTV1?
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#54
by
ZachS09
on 31 Aug, 2016 21:08
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Is that taikonaut Wang Yaping?
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#55
by
tonyq
on 02 Sep, 2016 21:07
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Is that taikonaut Wang Yaping?
Yes, it certainly is. This photo is connected to recent TV show she was involved in.
I have not seen the badge above her name tag before. Could this be the 'wings' awarded to Chinese astronauts who have flown in space?
At the risk of being called sexist, I'm going to say what everyone is thinking, that she's a stunning looking girl
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#56
by
zubenelgenubi
on 02 Sep, 2016 22:27
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Question:
Have any of the taikonauts made appearances or presentations in the United States?
(I know there is currently federal law restricting NASA from "bilateral activity" with PRC institutions. NASA is not the whole of the United States of America.)
Thank you!
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#57
by
Hobbes-22
on 03 Sep, 2016 08:23
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Do we have to use the term 'taikonaut'? The Chinese space agency doesn't, they use 'astronaut' in their English-language communications.
With the proliferation of spaceflight, it'll be untenable to use country-specific titles for every country's spaceflight personnel, so we might as well start calling them all astronauts now.
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#58
by
Phillip Clark
on 03 Sep, 2016 08:27
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Do we have to use the term 'taikonaut'? The Chinese space agency doesn't, they use 'astronaut' in their English-language communications.
With the proliferation of spaceflight, it'll be untenable to use country-specific titles for every country's spaceflight personnel, so we might as well start calling them all astronauts now.
Since the first man in space was a COSMONAUT then surely that should be the universal term for a space flier if you wish to impose such a term.
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#59
by
Hobbes-22
on 03 Sep, 2016 08:58
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I think we're stuck with astronaut/cosmonaut as those are too entrenched by now. For other countries we can do better.
