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China’s First Spaceplanes: A Look Into the Early History of the Chinese Crewed Space Program
As the American space shuttle dominated the skies, spaceplanes were the hottest trend in crewed spacecraft design in the 1980s. The Soviet Union followed suit with the construction of the more capable Buran shuttles, Europe’s Hermes spaceplane was on paper, and Japan had the HOPE program in proposal. China, at the time a developing power in the global space sector, had ambitions to send their own people to the stars. They favored the idea of a reusable spacecraft as a means of doing so.
A national effort to send its first astronauts was made in the early 1970s under Project 714, and by 1971 a group of 19 astronaut candidates were chosen for a proposed 1973 two-man mission. The program was canceled due to a lack of political interest and funding.
Project 863
The space shuttle mania in the 80s contributed to a re-ignition of interest in the development of a crewed space program. As several global superpowers were looking into making their presence in the final frontier, China was not eager to be left behind. During the wake of the Challenger accident, as the United States put its shuttle program on a temporary halt, China executed Project 863, or the State High-Tech Development Plan, to further enhance their technological prowess for global competition. One particular project, numbered 863–204, focused on the study of heavy lift launch vehicles and near-Earth transportation systems. Six of 11 submitted spacecraft proposals were placed under feasibility study, and these studies were delivered in June 1988. One of the six proposals involved a modular Soyuz-like capsule launched by an expendable booster, which later evolved into what we know today as the Shenzhou capsule. The other five were concepts for spaceplanes, each of which will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
Tianjiao-1
Proposed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, The Tianjiao-1 was a mini-shuttle weighing 20 to 25 tons and relied on an expendable (single launch) booster to get into orbit. It was reportedly able to carry a crew of 3 and payloads up to 2 to 3 tons. Its aerodynamic shape closely resembled that of the US shuttle orbiter, but was six times smaller in size. Earlier…
