By now the orbital module of the "Shenzhou III" spacecraft has
circled the earth over one thousand times in space and is in normal
and steady operation, as learned from the Kashi space tracking,
telemetering and control station, the "No 1" space tracking station
in China.
The Kashi station is one of major stations to track the "Shenzhou
III" orbital module. From April 1, on which the spacecraft was
successfully recovered, to June 9, its orbital module had smoothly
circled the earth for 1092 times, of which 112 were tracked,
according to Tao Feng, a young general engineer with the Kashi
station. Tracking result showed that the module had been in good
operation and scientific experiments aboard were going on
normally.
The orbit module runs round the earth 16 times everyday, said Tao,
and Kashi station tracked simultaneously about two times. Since the
module had been in good operation, the station had smoothly
conducted adjustment on its gesture and orbit. Every movement of
the module would be tracked continuously until all experiments
finished smoothly, Tao said.
Under the administration of a base of the General Armaments
Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the Kashi
station is located at the western tip of China's spacecraft
tracking, telemetering and control network. Since most of its
satellites of middle or low orbit launched by China enter the earth
orbit southeastwards and return from the northwest, the Kashi
station, as the first ground system to track and control the
satellites, is entitled the "No 1" station in China's space
tracking, telemetering and control.
The "Shenzhou III" spacecraft was launched in the evening of March
25, at the Jiuquan Satellite Launching Center of Gansu Province,
with its returning module landed smoothly in Inner Mongolia on
April 1. Its orbital module has by now been flying in the space for
71 days.
( June 12, 2002)