Space amateurs preparing to track China's first manned space flight

Space amateurs preparing to track China's first manned space flight
BEIJING (AFP) Oct 11, 2003
Thousands of amateur satellite trackers around the world are making
preparations to spot China's first manned space flight, the Shenzhou V, as
it orbits the earth 14 times in a mission to be launhed next week, a leading
space expert said Saturday.
China's official Xinhua news agency announced that the flight would be
launched from the Jiuquan Launch Center in northwestern Gansu province
between Oct 15-17, while also providing coordinates of the orbit and the
projected altitude of the flight.
"The Shenzhou V will be visible in the morning skies across Europe and
the United States," James Oberg, a former official at the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration in Houston and noted space expert, told
AFP. "There are hundreds, even thousands of amateurs around the world that
will be hoping to catch a glimpse of the spaceship."
Oberg said that with computer programs available on the Internet the
Xinhua information could be used to calculate the precise orbits of the
Shenzhou V, allowing trackers to know exactly when the Shenzhou would be
overhead in their part of the world.
The best view of the spaceship should come on the craft's final orbit as
it flies over northeast China and the Korean Peninsula before heading toward
Africa where the Shenzhou will fire retro-rockets in preparation for touch
down in northern China's Inner Mongolia, he said.
"The final orbit before landing the Shenzhou V will go directly over
North Korea which should give people there and in South Korea a spectacular
view," Oberg said.
The spacecraft would appear about as bright as Polaris, the north star,
but will be easy to spot by amateurs versed in tracking satellites, he said.
Previous flight paths and orbital data of the Shenzhou series of
unmanned space flights are posted on the website www.svengrahn.pp.se, which
is run by Sven Grahn, an employee of Sweden's space program.
Oberg said that the Shenzhou V flight plan was similar to the 21-hour,
14 orbit flight of Shenzhou I, the first in a series of unmanned Chinese
space flights that flew in November 1999.

"James Oberg" wrote in message
.. .
Space amateurs preparing to track China's first manned space flight


What did Krushcev say? "We'll wait to see how they do it"?

I'll wait to see _if_ they do it.
--
Alan Erskine
alanerskine(at)optusnet.com.au

Schwartzenegger - the new Reagan.

James Oberg wrote:
Space amateurs preparing to track China's first manned space flight
BEIJING (AFP) Oct 11, 2003
Thousands of amateur satellite trackers around the world are
making preparations to spot China's first manned space flight, the
Shenzhou V, as it orbits the earth 14 times in a mission to be
launhed next week, a leading space expert said Saturday.
China's official Xinhua news agency announced that the flight
would be launched from the Jiuquan Launch Center in northwestern
Gansu province between Oct 15-17, while also providing coordinates of
the orbit and the projected altitude of the flight.
"The Shenzhou V will be visible in the morning skies across
Europe and the United States," James Oberg, a former official at the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Houston and noted
space expert, told AFP. "There are hundreds, even thousands of
amateurs around the world that will be hoping to catch a glimpse of
the spaceship." Oberg said that with computer programs available
on the Internet the
Xinhua information could be used to calculate the precise orbits of
the Shenzhou V, allowing trackers to know exactly when the Shenzhou
would be overhead in their part of the world.
The best view of the spaceship should come on the craft's final
orbit as it flies over northeast China and the Korean Peninsula
before heading toward Africa where the Shenzhou will fire
retro-rockets in preparation for touch down in northern China's Inner
Mongolia, he said. "The final orbit before landing the Shenzhou V
will go directly over
North Korea which should give people there and in South Korea a
spectacular view," Oberg said.
The spacecraft would appear about as bright as Polaris, the north
star, but will be easy to spot by amateurs versed in tracking
satellites, he said. Previous flight paths and orbital data of
the Shenzhou series of
unmanned space flights are posted on the website www.svengrahn.pp.se,
which is run by Sven Grahn, an employee of Sweden's space program.
Oberg said that the Shenzhou V flight plan was similar to the
21-hour, 14 orbit flight of Shenzhou I, the first in a series of
unmanned Chinese space flights that flew in November 1999.

Sven Grahn's Shenzhou pages are more easily located at

http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/histind/C...enzhousum.html

Q