Beijing Gaining Momentum in Project to Launch Humans Into Space

Get ready for the taikonauts.

At a secret training center somewhere in western Beijing, a handful of men hoping to become the first Chinese in space are learning how to deal with weightlessness, to combat claustrophobia and to navigate by starlight, as China makes its push to join the exclusive club of nations capable of sending humans into orbit.

Foreign and domestic scholars believe that a manned Chinese space mission could be launched as early as the end of this year or the first half of 2001, pending a few more test runs.

Such a launch will make China only the third country, after the United States and the former Soviet Union, to achieve such a feat, which the Communist regime here sees as a symbol of national strength.

“Sending people into space is an inevitable outcome of the development of aeronautic technology,” said Zhang Heqi, chief scientist for astronomy at the Purple Mountain Observatory in the east-central city of Nanjing. “China is no exception.”

The program, christened Project 921, got a boost in November when China proudly announced that it had successfully launched an unmanned module into orbit. The Shenzhou (Sacred Vessel) circled the Earth 14 times before being brought down 21 hours later on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia.

Rumors that a manned mission would quickly follow proved groundless, despite excited speculation that Beijing was pushing hard for a breakthrough in time for the Year of the Dragon, which dawned Feb. 5.

Experts who follow China’s space program say that a number of technical obstacles must still be overcome before the government tries anything as risky as a manned expedition. The Beijing regime is mindful of the black eye its space program suffered after satellites being launched exploded in 1995 and 1996, killing and injuring dozens of people.

“Clearly they have not developed all the internal systems to the extent that they need to” for a manned space mission, said Charles Vick, senior research analyst in space defense policy with the Federation of American Scientists in Washington. “They’ve got a lot of work to do. . . . This is a much slower paced program than I had expected.”

Although the government has released scant technical details about November’s launch--repeated requests for interviews were turned down--information has trickled out through a few official sources and some photos, believed to be authentic, posted on an obscure Web site.

Observers say Project 921 still must test such equipment as the Shenzhou’s solar-power panels and its life-support apparatus.

Experts say China apparently intends to launch two more test flights this year, possibly including one with an animal on board, to see how well the life-support systems function.

“The Chinese are extremely safety-conscious and will not place their taikonauts at any undue risk,” said Phillip Clark, a British-based space consultant.

Last year, a little-known Chinese science journal gave a colorful inside peek at the kind of conditioning the taikonauts--a term derived from taikong, Chinese for “cosmos”--are undergoing.

At the training center in the capital--a “mysterious castle,” according to the journal--specially designed chairs and electric swings subject trainees to violent motion. A free-fall, amusement-park-like ride tries to simulate the high speed of reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.

In another room, the candidates don spacesuits and “endure the grueling isolation” of life inside a cramped, low-pressure capsule.

“The longest stay by a trainee lasted for more than two months,” the article’s author enthused. “Whether or not this respected trainee flies into space, I believe that he is a hero in the eyes of his countrymen.”

In 1996, China paid for two would-be taikonauts to undergo a year’s training at the Star City space center outside Moscow, with more trainees expected to follow. Two cosmonauts were reported to have arrived in Beijing last month to give technical advice to the space program.

Overall, Russia has been China’s biggest supplier of aeronautical know-how. The Shenzhou resembles the Russian Soyuz spacecraft of the ‘60s, although the Chinese have modified it to fit their own needs, particularly by making it compatible with space station use.

China has also bought a Russian life-support system, a docking system and a pressure suit to get design ideas for its own equipment, experts say.

In addition, Chinese scientists have adapted technology developed by France and the U.S. during the past 40 years, much of it now publicly available. Beijing bristles at accusations that it acquired information through espionage, as alleged by the so-called Cox Report put out by Congress last year.

“The Chinese have certainly taken advantage of shortcuts and commercial deals in their manned [flight] program, but that does not mean that they have simply copied what the Russians or anyone else might have done,” said Clark, the space consultant. Beijing has poured money and energy into its space program for three decades, mostly to launch satellites for military, communications, commercial and weather-tracking purposes. Foreign companies, such as Hughes Electronics Corp., have flocked to Chinese launch pads to take advantage of lower costs.

But in 1992, the Chinese leadership made sending humans into orbit a national priority--hence the name Project 921, for the year and the first month, January.

The question is why China has pursued spaceflight so aggressively, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, when the country has yet to develop world-class jet fighters for the military or even its own commercial airliner.

One driving force, no doubt, is national prestige. A manned space voyage would demonstrate China’s prowess as an up-and-coming major world power.

But prestige “only goes so far,” said Vick, the research analyst. “In this day and time, it doesn’t cut as much for you as it did in the past.”

China has stressed the practical applications of space research. Zhang, the scientist in Nanjing, said manned Chinese missions, like their American and Russian counterparts, would pave the way for experiments in biology, medicine and materials-processing in space. Many scientists see space as an opportunity for economic development--and, eventually, colonization.

“Aside from exploiting the resources of space, another long-term goal . . . is to put more people into space to search for other habitable environments beyond Earth,” Sun Jiadong, head of the China Space Technology Research Institute, told the official Yangcheng Evening News in December. “The space-bound taikonauts are in fact mankind’s advance party.”