"Shenzhou IV" unmanned spacecraft, which had made 63 smooth circles in its preset orbit by Friday morning, is scheduled to land in the middle of Inner Mongolia on Sunday afternoon.
Scientific personages with the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center (BACCC) are having around-clock tracking and checking of the spacecraft.
The spacecraft has been operating well, with all experiments carried out to plan so far, as deputy chief engineer in charge of "Shenzhou IV" put it. Judging from the checking data, all indices that are closely related to spacemen life suggest normal, such as pneumatic pressure and components in its cabin. During the orbiting period, the flight postures are directly controlled by installations in the spacecraft, while dozens of engines are designed to adjust the postures in accordance with the orders dispatched by the spacecraft.
By sources from the Effective Loading Application Center under Chinese Academy of Sciences, scientific experiments carried out on space application system are being smoothly conducted in the spacecraft with space cell-amalgamation and microgravity hydro-physic experiments completed to the desired goals. And the multi-mode microwave experiment for remote-sensing survey of the earth is soon to be started.
"Shenzhou IV" is due to enter returning orbit, and then complete certain maneuvers including return, re-entry and recovery guided by (BACCC). When entering the atmospheric layer, the spacecraft will once again go through the ordeal of high temperature exceeding 1000 degrees for protective materials, with such technologies as safe landing and accuracy in placement taken as the crucial matters of the test.
(People's Daily January 3, 2003)
