Rong Yi, the Chief Designer of China's only manned carrier rocket, has passed the baton and taken on a new role after the Shenzhou 17 mission launch. She spoke to CGTN about her future work on the next generation manned carrier rocket.
RONG YI Fmr. Chief Designer, Long March 2F Carrier Rocket, China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology "Manned carrier rockets, like others, also undergo technological upgrades and updates. According to the current plan, our new generation of manned carrier rockets includes two configurations: one for lunar landing and the other for near-earth orbit. These two configurations are being developed together to meet the needs of China's manned moon probe and space station development, which involves launching the Tianzhou cargo spaceship and the new generation of near-earth manned spacecraft using the Long March rockets. The lunar exploration rocket is the larger configuration comprising three and a half stages, designed for manned moon exploration. The near-earth configuration, on the other hand, is a simpler two-stage design without boosters, intended for manned and cargo launches to near-earth orbit. Currently, our rocket development goes through three design stages: conceptual, preliminary, and prototype. The development of both of these rockets is proceeding very smoothly, and they have already entered the critical preliminary design stage. We are fully committed to advancing our development work according to plan and schedule requirements as part of the overall plan."
