Shenzhou 4

Mission Statistics
Mission:	Shenzhou 4
Call sign:	Shenzhou 4
Launch:	December 29, 2002 16:40 UTC Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
Landing:	January 5, 2003 11:16 UTC Inner Mongolia 40.51deg N, 111.38 deg E
Duration:	6 days 18 hours 36 minutes
Orbits:	107

Contents

1 Crew 2 Mission Parameters 3 Mission Highlights 3.1 See also

Crew

• none

Backup

• none

Mission Parameters

• Mass: 7,800 kg
• Perigee: 196 km
• Apogee: 329 km
• Inclination: 42.4°
• Period: 89.8 minutes
• NSSDC ID: 2002-061A

Mission Highlights

Shenzhou 4 (meaning Divine Vessel) is a Chinese (PRC) unmanned test satellite that was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China by a Long March 2F rocket at 16:40 UT on 29 December 2002. It carried a retrievable crew module with all furnishings, test equipment, and dummy astronauts to assess its viability for a manned launch. The spacecraft carried fifty-two science experiments. (Very similar to the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, the Shenzhous carry two other modules, a service module for storing fuel and equipment, and an orbiter to continue on after the release of the crew module.) The spacecraft's descent module was successfully recovered on 5 January 2003 at 11:16 UTC. The crew module made a parachuted soft-landing on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia after a seven day mission.

See also

• Shenzhou spacecraft
• Long March rocket