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Chinese Taikonauts Arrive at Launch Facility
CylonSlave writes "It seems the recent rumors about China's first manned flight occuring in the next couple of weeks may be for real. Spacedaily.com reports (courtesy of AFP) 14 Chinese trained taikonauts have arrived at the launch facility in Gansu province in Northwest China. Earlier space.com and one of the Chinese state's news organs, the People's Daily, reported on the possibility of a manned flight next month. Note that this Wednesday, October 1, is China's National Day. This mission would be titled Shenzhou 5 being the fifth mission with the Chinese made Shenzhou space capsule. Personally, I hope the competition will jolt the US space program back into more visionary ideas such as the manned Mars mission. Two sites about China's space program can be seen here & here."
Really, isn't inventing a new nationalistic terminology for space travelers about 50 years past its time? There's no race anymore.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
The US's time as primary space-capable superpower is growing short. We need to kick it into high gear and get cracking if we want to keep the honor.
Time to get moving, and fund Nasa appropriately. Heaven knows that the payoffs from the R & D alone will be worth the money spent. The materials tech from the first space race is still filtering down to civilian life.
Regardless, It is 1957, and shenzou 5 is China's sputnik.
Cuchullain
"If sharing a thing in no way diminishes it, it is not rightly owned if it is not shared." -St. Augustine
An interesting read is the 1967 "Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies:"
Article IV
States Parties to the Treaty undertake not to place in orbit around the earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space in any other manner.
The moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes. The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden. The use of military personnel for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited. The use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration of the moon and other celestial bodies shall also not be prohibited.
Article VII
Each State Party to the Treaty that launches or procures the launching of an object into outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, and each State Party from whose territory or facility an object is launched, is internationally liable for damage to another State Party to the Treaty or to its natural or juridical persons by such object or its component parts on the Earth, in air or in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies.
Yes, China has ratified it.
1. China is laying down lots of money on its carbon nanotube research - they were mentioned as the 2nd most serious research after CNI.
2. They're beefing up their space program. Collecting the knowhow. Launching their own vehicles. Tackling the being-in-space problems on their own.
3. A little prophecy from the Space Elevator's Phase I NIAC paper:
"Let's consider two roughly equal entities (governments, private enterprise etc.). At year zero, entity one begins building a space elevator behind closed doors. The second is looking at building a space elevator and thinks it is important but has not begun building it yet. At year five the news gets out that the first entity is building the space elevator. The second now jumps into its program and starts building. At year ten the first entity has its first elevator operating and the second entity is 18 months from launch of its initial spacecraft. At year fifteen the first entity has six cables up including two 106 kg cables, has a manned station at geosynchronous, has recouped much of the construction cost through selling two cables and through hundreds of launches on its eight cables, and is beginning construction of a Mars cable. The second entity has up its first cable. Note that two additional entities also have cables now because of entity one's sales. At year twenty, entity one is making billions from the tens of cables it has produced, has a manned station on Mars, has a hotel at Geo station which now has a permanent population of over one hundred. Entities two, three, four, five,E each own a handful of cables and are trying to compete with entity one."
Is anyone adding this up?
Here's some ideas for future slashdot headlines:
2004: NASA announces new-and-improved winged-spacetruck candidate.
2009: NASA launches first new winged spacetruck
2015: NASA announces last shuttle of their new shuttle fleet has been delivered.
2015: NASA disassembles shuttle, sends it to space in pieces using chinese elevators to save up on launch costs.
We can all safely assume that one sixth the population of our planet would very much like it to happen _just like that_.
I'd be amused.
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