Shenzhou 2: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Crew

• none

• Mass: 7,400 kg
• Perigee: 330 km
• Apogee: 346 km
• Inclination: 42.6°
• Period: 91.3 minutes
• NSSDC ID: 2001-001A

Shenzhou 2 (translated as " Divine Ship", or "Magic Vessel", or "God Vessel") is an unmanned Chinese (PRC) spacecraft that was launched by a Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan launch center (in the north-western province of Gansu) at "01:00 a.m." Shenzhou 2 carried a monkey, a dog and a rabbit in a test of the spaceship's life support systems. The descent module (also carrying the name, Shenzhou 2 but with ID 2001-001C) landed smoothly in Inner Mongolia on 16 January at 11:22 UT after separating from the Orbital Module (2001-001A) which continued to orbit, doing some zero-gravity experiments. It was controlled for six months, changing orbit several times (the final orbit was 394 x 405 km). The Orbital Module's orbit decayed and it reentered the atmosphere at 09:05 UTC, August 24, 2001. It reentered near 33.1 deg S latitude and 260.4 deg E longitude, over the western Pacific Ocean between Easter Island and Chile. The descent module is a prototype of an eventual manned spacecraft to carry Taikongyuans (astronauts). A major concern during this and the next few launches was to assess the integrity of the heat shield during re-entry.