Safety design for Shenzhou 7 launch rocket

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Source: CCTV.com | 09-24-2008 09:05

This mission's launch rocket features a special safety design.

If something goes wrong during takeoff, the escape tower  would lift the modules containing the astronauts away from  the rocket, bringing the Shenzhou Seven crew to safety  in the blink of an eye.

This part of the rocket is called the escape tower. It's on the very top of the launch rocket that will carry Shenzhou 7 spaceship into orbit. If something goes wrong during takeoff, the escape tower would lift the modules containing the astronauts away from the rocket, bringing the Shenzhou Seven crew to safety in the blink of an eye.

Ren Quanbin, Tech director of Escape Tower Engine System, said, "It's the main engine for the escape tower. It has a propelling power of more than eighty to one hundred tons, so that it's capable of pushing the spaceship away from the dangerous part of the launch rocket in only three or four seconds. "

For astronauts, three or four can be the precious difference between life and death. It's long enough to take the crew module to a safe area two kilometers away. 
But even this safety system has its limits, as it become ineffective when the altitude of the spacecraft exceeds 39 kilometers.

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Editor:Zhang Ning