Recorded mission
Watch
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Long March 2F | Shenzhou-2
Coverage link pending
Recorded mission coverage
A coverage link has not been published yet. Mission status and timing remain available here.
Playing a video connects to YouTube. Coverage may be scheduled, live or recorded. If a player is unavailable, use “Open source”.
Mission brief
The flight at a glance.
Second test flight of the Shenzhou spacecraft, without crew on board. A monkey, a dog, and a rabbit were carried in a test of the spaceship's life support systems. There were also 64 different scientific payloads, including a microgravity crystallography experiment; animal species including six mice, small aquatic and terrestrial organisms; cosmic ray and particle detectors and gamma-ray burst detectors. To test the radio transmitting systems taped messages were broadcast from the spacecraft. During return to Earth the parachutes failed to open upon re-entry, which resulted in a hard landing of the descent capsule.
Open the full mission →Published flight sequence
Know what comes next.
Planned timings relative to the target. These steps do not indicate live progress.
A flight sequence has not been published for this mission.