What are the greatest risks for China in this mission? Or will Chinas apparently meticulous planning ensure that there are relatively few risks?
Despite five previous Shenzhou flights, the Shenzhou is still in its infancy from a development point of view, and a riskier vehicle than the Soyuz or Shuttle. On one earlier unmanned Shenzhou mission, the orbital module depressurised and the re-entry vehicle evidently crashed on landing. The current model of the Russian Soyuz has been flown 61 times, and Soyuz of all types and derivatives have flown 250 times. The reusable American shuttle has flown 113 times. The Shenzhou, so early in its production life, can be expected to have yet uncovered dangers. Unlike the American Shuttle, and like Soyuz, Shenzhou is equipped with a launch escape tower, which can pull the crew capsule away from the booster in case of a failure or explosion. Such an escape system has saved Russian Soyuz crews on one occasion over the years (Soyuz T-10-1). But there are many other dangers for an astronaut in a Soyuz-type spacecraft. There can be a launch booster failure after the escape tower has separated (Soyu
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