It's official: the launch of Shenzhou 8 will occur at 05:58:07 CNST on November 1st (21:58:07 UTC on October 31st), right at the middle of a 1 second launch window. If the launch is scrubbed, the next launch opportunity will come 2 days later.
According to news reports I have seen, SZ-8 will make 5 phasing burns during the 2 day catch up with TG-1, until reaching a 370 km circular orbit. It then will establish a communication link with TG-1 52 kilometers away, launching the rendezvous and docking procedures. Using on board microwave radars, laser range finders and optical sensors, it then will attempt to dock with TG-1 after a 144 minute catch-up. If successful, then hard docking will be achieved after another 15 minutes. In other words, the procedure is similar to the docking procedures of a Soyuz with the ISS.
SZ-8 will stay docked to TG-1 for 12 days. During this period, it will undock from TG-1 and retreat back 140 meters from the docking port. It will then attempt re-docking. If successful, it will stay docked to TG-1 for another 2 days before the final departure. After undocking, SZ-8 will be de-orbited (which would probably be some time in mid-November) and land at the grass lands of Mongolia. TG-1 will raise its orbit to a 370 km circular orbit to wait for the next docking mission.
As for the payloads on board, there are several science experiments from China and Germany, which will be exposed to the micro-gravity environment for up to three weeks. It was also suspected that there are classified payloads on SZ-8. What is known, however, is that there will be one dummy "taikonaut" in the descent module, balancing the center of gravity for the landing. Or maybe the Chinese are not telling the full story... :rofl:
---------- Post added at 16:46 ---------- Previous post was at 13:26 ----------
And now the obligatory photo post....
And don't forget to look at the roll-out photos I posted earlier:
Link
BTW, the Long March 2F rocket has already been fueled for launch today.
