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Recovery of FSW
Recovery of FSW unmanned reconnaisance satellite capsule. This capsule was dimensionally too small to be used as a manned spacecraft. 20,008 bytes. 491 x 177 pixels. |
Class: Surveillance. Type: Military. Nation: China. Photo surveillance; film capsule.
SpecificationTotal Mass: 2,400 kg.
FSW Chronology
05 November 1974
FSW RV Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2A. FAILURE: Failure.
26 November 1975
China 4 Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C. Mass: 2,500 kg. Perigee: 183 km. Apogee: 483 km. Inclination: 63.0 deg. Photo surveillance; film capsule.
07 December 1976
China 7 Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C. Mass: 2,500 kg. Perigee: 172 km. Apogee: 489 km. Inclination: 59.4 deg.
 | FSW in Assembly - FSW reconnaisance satellite in assembly. 48,292 bytes. 552 x 332 pixels. |
Photo surveillance; film capsule.
26 January 1978
China 8 Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C. Mass: 2,500 kg. Perigee: 186 km. Apogee: 507 km. Inclination: 57.0 deg. Photo surveillance; film capsule; capsule returned 1/30.
09 September 1982
China 12 Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C. Mass: 2,500 kg. Perigee: 172 km. Apogee: 392 km. Inclination: 63.0 deg. Photo surveillance; film capsule.
19 August 1983
China 13 Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C. Mass: 2,500 kg. Perigee: 170 km. Apogee: 493 km. Inclination: 63.3 deg. Photo surveillance; film capsule.
12 September 1984
China 16 Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C. Mass: 2,500 kg. Perigee: 172 km. Apogee: 398 km. Inclination: 67.9 deg.
 | Recovery of FSW - Recovery of an unidentified FSW reconaissance satellite. 40,273 bytes. 525 x 266 pixels. |
Photo surveillance; film capsule.
21 October 1985
China 17 Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C. Mass: 2,500 kg. Perigee: 171 km. Apogee: 393 km. Inclination: 63.0 deg. Photo surveillance; film capsule.
06 October 1986
China 19 Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C. Mass: 2,500 kg. Perigee: 169 km. Apogee: 337 km. Inclination: 57.0 deg. Capsule re-entered 10/11/86.
05 August 1987
China 20 Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C. Mass: 2,500 kg. Perigee: 169 km. Apogee: 366 km. Inclination: 63.0 deg. Microgravity experiments; return capsule recovered 8/10.
09 September 1987
China 21 Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C. Mass: 2,500 kg. Perigee: 181 km. Apogee: 222 km. Inclination: 63.0 deg.
 | Recovery of FSW - Recovery of FSW-17 photoreconnaisance satellite. 42,836 bytes. 546 x 379 pixels. |
Return capsule recovered 9/17.
05 August 1988
China 23 Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C. Mass: 1,700 kg. Perigee: 204 km. Apogee: 311 km. Inclination: 63.0 deg. German crystal growth experiment in recoverable capsule.
05 October 1990
China 33 Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C. Mass: 2,400 kg. Perigee: 208 km. Apogee: 312 km. Inclination: 57.0 deg. Biological research; Fanhui Shu Weixing.
09 August 1992
China 35 Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2D. Mass: 2,500 kg. Perigee: 171 km. Apogee: 332 km. Inclination: 63.1 deg. Fanhui Shi Weixing; microgravity experiments; capsule returned 8/25/92. Second stage of a two stage rocket. Aug 9 launch: designation 03. Oct 6 launch: designation 04.
06 October 1992
China 38 Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C. Mass: 2,100 kg. Perigee: 213 km. Apogee: 309 km. Inclination: 63.0 deg. Fanhui Shi Weixing; remote sensing, microgravity experiments; capsule recovered 10/13/92. Second stage of a two stage rocket. Aug 9 launch: designation 03. Oct 6 launch: designation 04.
08 October 1993
Jianbing-93 P/L(2) Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2C. Mass: 2,099 kg. Perigee: 181 km. Apogee: 2,860 km. Inclination: 56.6 deg. Microgravity; retrievable capsule ejected into higher orbit.
03 July 1994
FSW-2 RV Launch Site: Jiuquan . Launch Vehicle: CZ-2D.
20 October 1996
FSW-2 RV Launch Vehicle: CZ-2D.
Bibliography:- 2 - McDowell, Jonathan, The United Nations Registry of Space Objects, Harvard University, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/un/un.html
- 6 - JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html
- 279 - McDowell, Jonathan, Launch Log, October 1998. HTML when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/log/launch.html
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Last update 12 March 2001.
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© Mark Wade, 2001 .
