The crewed Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou VI carried out two orbital adjustments early on Friday to boost its altitude back up to the required height.
China鈥檚 state news agency Xinhua reports that, according to data from the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Centre, the operation was completed successfully. Commentators say the manoeuvre is quite normal during orbital spaceflights and is unlikely to signal any problems with the mission.
The timing of the two-man crew鈥檚 return to Earth will depend on weather conditions at the landing site, Xinhua reports. The Shenzhou VI mission is scheduled to last five days from its launch on Wednesday.
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Xinhua says 13 landing sites have been prepared for the spacecraft鈥檚 return. But Wu Guoting, a senior researcher with the China Research Institute of Space Technology, says that the weather conditions at the main landing area in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia, will be the determining factor in deciding when to land.
鈥淭he return may occur on, before or after the fifth day,鈥� he told Xinhua.
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Operations on Shenzhou VI have been 鈥渧ery smooth鈥� so far and there are no indications of an early return, says Chen Lan, an independent Chinese space analyst.
Astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng have remained in contact with the mission command centre and have frequently been seen on state television via the spacecraft鈥檚 onboard TV camera. The two are sleeping about seven hours a night.
The pair have conducted various experiments, including closing and opening the internal capsule door, moving between the orbital and re-entry capsules, taking spacesuits on and off, and testing the water condensation extraction system. The activities were conducted with 鈥渆xaggerated鈥� movements to test the craft鈥檚 limits.
鈥淭he results proved that the spacecraft was fully capable of enduring all the disturbance, meaning astronauts can move in a relatively free way,鈥� says Zheng Songhui, a consultant on the mission.
The flight is China鈥檚 second crewed spaceflight following the historic Shenzhou V, which in October 2003 made China only the third nation after the former Soviet Union and the US to put a human in space.
