Chinese Manned Space Flight Set For Autumn

brandido writes "According to an article at Space.com, "Chinese space officials remain on schedule for the first piloted flight of that nation's Shenzhou spacecraft. Chief designers and mission directors say Shenzhou 5 will be launched in autumn, reported the People's Daily last week." Between this, the X-Prize, and multiple launches of Mars probes in the last few weeks, it looks like the space race may be heating back up?"

Comments

Race may not be a good thing

[addie]

Although the manned space program has been ridiculously successful in terms of preventing accidents, there have been 3 instances where small decisions have led to fatal mishaps. The Apollo launchpad fire, the Challenger, and of course Columbia. The more times we attempt these types of activities, the more accidents we will have. That said...

I'm a space junkie, I love reading about anything exploration related. But national pride is not a good excuse for spending billions to go into space. Should we be celebrating the Chinese, or asking them why they aren't instead working on a way to contribute to the ISS program? Europe is heading for Mars news story, and the US has already been there. How many different times do we need to accomplish the same goal under different flags?

I applaud the Chinese for getting a man into space, this is by no means an easy task. But we have to look at priorities. I'd love to live in a world where competition wasn't the driving reason to succeed!

Space race

[aplank]

A wise man once said "Space should not be a race It should be a journey" :-P

I hope not

[slam smith]

it looks like the space race may be heating back up?

I sure hope not. The space races of the past did little to foster cats(cheap access to space). And this won't either. It will be like the apollo missions to the moon, flag and footprints and never to return. I want space tourism, industry, and sustainable high level of commerce and privatization. The only one of these three items that has a potential of doing that is the X-Prize, because it fosters private industry not just feed the bueracracy that is NASA or ESA (European Space Agency). And now it looks like China is going to do the same thing. You'll have to excuse me if I'm a little underwhelmed.

Moon

[FTL]

If you are trying to figure out where the Chinese are headed, all you have to do is look at this picture of a Shenzhou rollout, then compare with this picture of a certain NASA rollout. Creepy, huh?

I wish them the best of luck.

2061

[Horizon_99]

Anybody else reminded of 2061? Bring on the monoliths!

My god it's full of stars!

Isn't this a Soyuz?

[boomgopher]

The Shenzhou spacecraft looks just like Russia's Soyuz space vehicle - bummer.
When are we going to get some new space vehicles, damnit?

Zzzzz.....

Re:Isn't this a Soyuz?

[axxackall]

When are we going to get some new space vehicles, damnit?

I completely against any idea to satisfy your aestetic demands. The spacecraft must do the job - fly up or land down. Safily (not like Shuttles). As for today, Soyuz design is the proof of safity (comparing to Shuttles). Therefore, don't invest money to anything which is more complicated than Soyuz (at least for now).

Speaking about money. Investment (and ROI!) is the biggest problem in the space industry. I would rather ask:

When will we have well-profitable space programms, damnit?

Re:let's get ready to rumble!

[bravehamster]

Just because an achievement was dependant upon earlier advances does not lessen its greatness any. Indeed, it would be better to say that Man landing on the Moon represented the pinnacle of human achievement to that point, the result of thousands of years of single achievements put into focus by a unique moment. The only thing I can think of that will trump that is when we create our first extrasolar colony and ensure the long term survival of the human race, regardless of what happens on Earth.

Most modern thingy around, for now

[Rxke]

Consider: Space Shuttle: concieved around 70's, built 80's Soyuz: 60's, minor upgrades, still based on old model. Shendzou: 90's, 00's? Granted, it seems to be based on the soyuz, but Chinese say they built it themselves, and this seems to be the case: it's considerably bigger, more modern electronics et.c. Who would ever have thought that the Chinese would be flying the most up to date spacethingy, it seems absurd, but it's a fact. How the world has changed since the 80's...

Re:Welcome ...

[Arcturax]

Actually their spacecraft are far more advanced than the Apollo era craft were, simply because there is newer tech today. Have you seen their space control center yet?

It's awesome! There is a ton of information about their space program here.

Also, you might want to note that the U.S. is currently incapable of landing on the moon. All the equipment used to do it in the 60's and 70's is too old and most of it can only be found in museums now. The rest is rusting in NASA hangars. If we want to go back, we would be better off developing updated versions of the Apollo craft. So in a way, China has a bit of an edge right now if there was a sudden race to put a base on the moon.

titan

[Flunitrazepam]

"Between this, the X-Prize, and multiple launches of Mars probes in the last few weeks, it looks like the space race may be heating back up?"

Stephen Baxter's wonderful book Titan starts out with the first Chinese manned spacecraft orbit of earth, which does in fact spark a new military build up comparable to the American/Russian era.

I can't recommend this book highly enough, it is remarkable to me how time and again how close Sci-Fi authors come in their visions of the future of our race.