China's Space Launch Near; Malaysia Wants One, Too

Enoch Root writes "According to an article on People's Daily Online, a Chinese news service, the first Chinese manned space launch is set to take place in the next few days, between October 15th and October 17th. Space.com has an interesting article on the subject, including a satellite snapshot of the Jiuquan, strongly suggesting the imminent launch." And alphaque writes "Malaysia is calling for interested applicants aged 21 and above to be its first cosmonaut aboard the International Space Station. The ability to speak Russian and prior space exploration experience is a definite plus, they say. Applications can be made online at your nearest astronaut recruitment site. Light sabres optional. Now the floodgates are open. Boldly go where no Malaysian has gone before -- to space, the final frontier." Offer is for Malaysians only, though.

Comments

Cooperation: Good to see

[ajensen]

Honestly, this initiative from Malaysia is good to see. Much of the spirit behind the international space station effort is international cooperation, which, so far, has included a relatively tight group of nations. There are very bright and promising individuals in Malaysia whom I hope can bring some fresh ideas into the works.

-a

Re:its not xenophobia

[ghuw]

Too right the US isn't perfect. China's human rights record may suck, but at least they don't claim it to be otherwise.

US on the other hand has kidnapped and detained without trial, pressing charges, or providing legal access to a group of Muslim citizens from many countries. They've been there for two years!!

Yea, you'll allow people to vote.. but only if they haven't been sent to jail (for such harmless things as being caught with a bit of grass).. Then you'll do all you can to screw the system to get an idiot like criminal like Bush elected.

US will forcibly drug criminals just so they are 'sane' enough to be executed

It's one of only a handful of countries who will execute people who were juveniles when the crime was committed (others are places like Iran, Saudi)

Such things are positively barbaric... and all we get from them are nonsense slogans such as 'Liberty', 'Justice', 'Democracy'.

w.r.t forced events, don't kid yourself that you are any less brain washed than Chinese, or the rest of us for that matter. You all seemed to be hyped up into supporting the invasion of Iraq based upon spoon-fed fear (phoney alert levels, duct tape, dirty bombs, and other such nonsense).. Chinese may be given a little media based push to celebrate a successful launch. You guys were conned into supporting the invasion of another country!!

At least we know where we stand with China.