Palfinger crane on duty in Chinese space project

China made its first manned foray into space in October when the China National Space Administration (CNSA) launched a rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Mongolian Gobi desert around 900 km west of Beijing. On board was 38 year old fighter pilot Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liwei, who had been selected from around 2000 candidates. After just 10 minutes, Shenzhou 5 reached its planned height of 343 km and then orbited the Earth some 14 times. Twenty-one hours later, the probe returned safely to the Gobi desert having travelled a distance of 600 000 km.
While the pilot was being taken to the mobile medical laboratory for a health check, the re-entry capsule had to be loaded as carefully as possible onto a vehicle for safe transportation back to base. This was achieved with the aid of a PK 16000 Palfinger crane mounted on an all-terrain Unimog.
The PK 16000 has a very low dead weight, high lifting capacity, unique movement geometry and sensitive controllability, according to the manufacturer. Furthermore, the crane proved its safety and reliability in the demanding environment of the Gobi desert, which is subject to extreme climatic conditions, high fluctuations in temperature and sandstorms.