As the countdown for the blastoff of China's second manned spacecraft Shenzhou VI continued steadily in the satellite launch center in Jiuquan in northwest China, all the nation held breath.
"Fifty seconds, 30 seconds,..." read Guo Baoxin clearly and soberly. The 45-year-old ground control commander had served to count down in seconds for China's spacecraft blastoffs for five times.
Thirty-five years ago, Hu Shixiang, then in Guo's post, pressed a red button to launch China's first three-stage carrier rocket, Long March I, which carried the country's first manmade satellite, Dongfanghong I, into space. With 35 years passing by, the manual ignition has been replaced by automatic ignition, and Hu has been promoted to the post of vice commander-in-chief of the manned space program.
At 8:59:10 AM on Oct. 12, 2005, the temperature at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center was three degrees Celsius, and wind blew at a speed of 6 to 8 meters per second, with the snow before dawn leaving little trace. The four arms holding the carrier rocket for the Shenzhou VI in the middle were loosened, with the ground connection cut off for all the systems of the spacecraft.
The carrier rocket, Long March II F which was tailored to Shenzhou VI, was waiting for its sixth flight. Two years ago, at the same time and the same launch pad, the huge-powered rocket carried China's first astronaut Yang Liwei into space, realizing a centuries-old dream cherished by the Chinese people.
Two hours and 45 minutes before the blastoff, two astronauts for China's second manned space mission, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, stepped into the re-entry module of the spacecraft. As planned, they will travel in space for five days and conduct laboratory experiments, which will be the nation's first space experiments operated directly by man in space.
When the countdown timer stopped at the zero second, the rocket was ignited, all parts for the Shenzhou VI mission were vitalized.
China's top leaders, Wen Jiabao, Li Changchun and Luo Gan, watched the whole process of the Shenzhou VI's liftoff and saw the astronauts off at the launch site.
Inside the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center, graphics and digits were glittering. Four survey vessels on the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans and 9 land monitor stations were poised to receive real-time messages about the flight conditions of the spacecraft.
At the Jiuquan command and control center, among the gazers in front of the monitors, one was a bit special. He was China's first astronautic hero Yang Liwei.
Four seconds after ignition, the 479-ton spacecraft left the launch pad, and viewers on the ground watched the movement through cameras, including one tied on the rocket body. According to calculation by Liu Zhusheng, chief designer of the carrier rocket system, to carry one kg of material into space, the rocket will consume six kg of its weight. Since there are two astronauts in the current mission, the Shenzhou VI was the heaviest among China's all six space vehicles.
At the 12th second after ignition, the rocket, at a height of 211 meters above the ground, turned southeastward by a 4-to-5-degree angle, piercing the sky with a bright white curve.
At the 120th second, the rocket completed its first separation movement, dropping off the 8-meter-high escape tower at its top.
It is reported that 70 percent of spacecraft accidents occurred at the stage of launch, and that the first 120 seconds in the stage are the most dangerous. The escape tower, chiefly designed by Zhang Zhi in seven years, would carry the astronauts away in case any breakdown in the vessel with a time range 900 seconds prior to and 120 seconds after blastoff.
Zhang sighed with a relief when the escape tower dropped off and the rocket continued its flight at a speed of more than 1,300 meters per second, four times of sound speed.
At the 136th second, the rocket discarded its four boosters at an altitude of 52 km. The beautiful separation was monitored by Guo Yi, a major ground operator, through a big photoelectric telescope, at a radar station some 30 km from the launch pad.
At the 200th second, the 32 locks on the rectifier cover opened simultaneously, and the cover dropped off to unveil the main body of the spacecraft.
At the 583rd second, the spacecraft separated from the rocket and entered its orbit at an altitude of 200 km above China's Yellow Sea and with a speed of 7.5 km per second.
This was the 46th successful launch since October 1996, the Jiuquan and Beijing command and control centers were soaked in hails and hugs. Amid the jubilation, the Shenzhou VI had flied 2,000 km, covering five provincial areas.
(Xinhua News Agency October 12, 2005)
