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China Radio International:

As Mr. Wang just mentioned, from June of last year to now, the flight missions in the space lab phase of China manned space engineering program were all completed. Can you sum up what important achievements have been made in the phase? What kind of role do they play in the follow-up development?

Wang Zhaoyao:

From June of last year to yesterday, four planned flight missions of the space lab phase were all completed. In retrospect, we have taken note of many important achievements and successful experiences that are worth learning.

The first one is that we’ve built up a freight transport system for the space station. Many reporters just mentioned it, and it’s the prerequisite for space station construction. If we can’t resolve the problem of reliable supply, astronauts won’t have food and drink when the space station completes construction. So now, we have the achieved basic conditions for building up a space station in the future.

Second, we have realized the objective of astronauts staying in space in the medium terms. The Shenzhou 11 Spacecraft carrying astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong stayed in space for 33 days, the longest time for China’s manned space flight program. We examined the astronauts’ life, work and health status in orbit and technical problems concerning the maintenance, support and protection of the whole system. It laid a solid basis for follow-up longer flights in the future.

Third, we examined and confirmed many key technologies for space station construction as I’ve just mentioned. Take the fourth space lab mission as an example, rendezvous and docking were conducted at the orbital altitude of the future space station, 393 kilometers, rather than the spacecraft operating orbit height, which is dozens of kilometers lower. As we accomplished rendezvous and docking, cargo replenishing, propellant refueling and orbital maintenance in the orbit close to an altitude of 400 kilometers, all the technologies are key ones for space station construction.

Fourth, we conducted a large number of scientific experiments and technological tests in space. The projects Mr. Zhao has just mentioned and the ones of Tiangong 2 all took the lead in technical indices internationally. For China, manned space flight has entered a new era of application and we have a solid basis for human-involved experiments on future space stations.

Fifth, we’ve improved project capacity in conducting high-frequency launch missions. Compared with one manned space flight a year, or two a year, we can now execute four in less than one year. The missions of high frequency and intensity posed severe challenges to the organization, command and logistical guarantees. After the space station goes into long-term operation, we will operate at least three to four missions, or even more every year. The examination of the flights in this phase helps us improve the capacities of organization, command, operation and guarantee.

We can say that we’ve made breakthroughs in space station construction and operation until now. Construction of related facilities has been completed, which means we have the capability of building space stations. What are we waiting for? It’s the construction of the main body of several cabins, kernel module and experimental module. After they are developed, we can conduct orbital assembly of a space station. From this aspect, the completion of space lab stage means China’s manned space flight enters the space station era.

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