Shenzhou 3

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Shenzhou 3

Mission type	Test flight
COSPAR ID	2002-014A
SATCAT no.	27397
Mission duration	6 days, 18 hours, 51 minutes
Orbits completed	107
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Shenzhou
Start of mission
Launch date	March 25, 2002, 14:15:04 (2002-03-25UTC14:15:04Z) UTC
Rocket	Chang Zheng 2F
Launch site	Jiuquan LA-4/SLS-1
End of mission
Landing date	April 1, 2002, 08:51 (2002-04-01UTC08:52Z) UTC
Landing site	Inner Mongolia[vague]
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Inclination	42.40 degrees
Shenzhou missions ← Shenzhou 2 Shenzhou 4 →

Shenzhou 3 (Chinese: 神舟三号) launched on March 25, 2002, was the third unmanned launch of China's Shenzhou spacecraft. This was the first Shenzhou spacecraft launched that could have actually carried a human and as such the main objective of the mission was to test the systems required to support a human in space. On board it carried a dummy to simulate physiological signals of a human — palpitation, pulse, breathing, eating, metabolism, and excretion.

The launch had been delayed several months due to design changes. It had been planned that Shenzhou 3 would use a new interior design but implementation problems meant reverting to the previous version. The rocket and spacecraft were eventually rolled out on the pad during the Fifth Session of the Ninth National People's Congress and the Ninth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in early March 2002.