[April 25, CMSE News] At 10:00 of April 25，2011，the launching ceremony of soliciting names for China Manned Space station was held in the Great Hall of the People, during which Zhou Jianping, chief designer of CMSE, announced a name soliciting campaign for the country’s first manned space station was initiated officially, and China six astronauts launched a crystal ball together.

This soliciting campaign was hosted by CMSEO and co-sponsored by CASC, and undertaken jointly by the Offical Website of CMSEP, China Space News and Tencent. From now, every can submit works by online logging on the Offical Webside of CMSEP, Website of China Space, Tencent and Moblie Tencent, and also through Email, mailing CD or wrritten material.

Wang Wenbao, director of CMSEO, said during the express that China’s manned space station program should have a distinctive logo to match its glorious achievements and magnificent blueprint, and that China’s manned space station should also have an inspiring name. He said, “Meanwhile, we are aware that the name and logo should be set largely based on public opinion.” Wang Wenbao expected to attract more public attention to participate in soliciting campaign and support China's manned space engineering undertaking, through cooperation with Tencent, inc. Mr.Wang expressed that Manned Space Engineering was an important symbol of national comprehensive power. It was a major national project, implementation of which can produce profound influence on enhancing national prestige, promoting technological progress, and enhancing national cohesion and pride.

When referring to the meaning of solicitation, CMSEO deputy director and spaceflight hero Mr.Yang Liwei said that names solicitation held for space station would have positively stimulative effect on popularizing knowledge, developing manned space spirit, and promoting the healthy and sustained development of MSE.

The CMSE logo, name and logo for China’s manned station, names for the core module and experiment module I&II. Campaign timeline is from April 25 to July 25. China transfer vehicle name soliciting time is from April 25 to May 20. Review committee would select 30 for every kind of names and logos from all solicitation schemes, then determined 10 selected schemes until the end of September, 2011, by weighting public vote results, and awarding the finally selected designers. Among them, the name of freight spacecraft would be announced at the end of June.    

As introduced by Director Wang Wenbao, preparations for the TiangongⅠ and ShenzhouⅧ shuttle missions were now in progress and the first space rendezvous and docking experiment would be implemented in the second half of 2011. Through ShenzhouⅨ and ShenzhouⅩ flighting, China would break through and master the rendezvous and docking technology, therefore setting a sound basis for the development of manned space. According to plans, China’s manned space station would be completed around 2020. The selected name and logo, at that time with the station, would fly into the space.