Scientists have made plans for an alternative 'ballistic re-entry' should the Shenzhou VII spacecraft encounter problems similar to those that endangered two Russian Soyuz landings in the past few months, a mainland flight controller said yesterday.
A ballistic method is employed during an emergency and relies wholly on the atmosphere to slow the capsule's re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
The procedure means astronauts must endure a gravity overload that makes their bodies eight times heavier than normal and risks missing their landing zone by hundreds of kilometres.
Zhou Jianliang , deputy chief engineer at the Beijing Flight Control Centre, said Shenzhou VII's design was similar to the Soyuz TMA, whose latest two journeys back to Earth ended in extreme discomfort and physical injury to their crews.
Dr Zhou said mission control was fully aware of the implications of the last two Russian re-entry mishaps and was doing all it could to avoid a recurrence.
He would not elaborate on the exact problem.