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China Sends First Taikonaut To Space
tuxlove writes "Space.com reports that China has just
successfully launched its first manned space mission. "Blasting off from a remote space base in the Gobi Desert atop a Long March 2F rocket,
a single Chinese astronaut named Yang Liwei is on his way
to circle the planet every 90 minutes aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. As a result, China has become only the third nation on Earth capable of
independently launching its citizens into orbit. " Perhaps this will kick the US space program back into gear?"
aerojad points to this
Reuters report, about which he says "The article is short on details, aside from 'Xinhua said the craft carried
astronaut Yang Liwei, 38. The launch on Wednesday, 42 years after the Soviet Union put the first man into space, marked a milestone for China's
secretive space programme, which analysts say has its sights set on a manned mission to the moon.' The mission is due to end in 21 hours."
zxm adds a link to China
Daily's coverage, and puiwah to a story on MSNBC.
"China Sends First Takeout To Space"
Does anyone know how to say, "Capricorn One", in Chinese?
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Another view, expressed before the launch, comes from The Times of India, which in an editorial Monday called the Shenzhou 5 launch a "joke." "It would be better to call it China's Late Creep Forward, given that Beijing is attempting to showcase a four-decade-old technology. If this is China's idea of arriving, then it's come at a time when the other two spacefaring nations have left it light years behind," the publication said.
Can you say greenThe war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
Yeah, but real Congratulations are in order if their rockets, and command center software run linux.
[runs and ducks]
Got Extra Money?
A rocket? Capsule? Training? What a waste of money.
Think about it. According to the CIA Factbook China has about 1,286,975,468 people. Figure the average person is 5' tall and you've got 1,218,726 miles worth of people. The moon at apogee is about 251,655 miles away, so they've got enough people to build a ladder to the moon with a nice stable base, even figuring in the inevitable attrition. Hell, take a look at the prototype. Just start passing up building supplies and poof! Instant colony!
I for one welcome our Taikonaut overlords.
One of the country's problems is lack of exploration.
How does not spending money on exploration help this?
This is great to see. Hopefully China will land on the moon soon, replace the US flags, and annoy the NASA enough to start the world's biggest game of capture the flag!
But none of them beat
..capsule burns up on re-entry."
"Russians send Lance Bass into space..