Slashdot Mirror
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 has become only the third nation on Earth capable of independently launching its citizens into orbit.
That's nice and all, but isn't the tricky part bringing them back?
Let's see what happens in 21 hours.
and I'm sure everybody else wants it too. NORAD has nothing, NASA has nothing, space.com has nothing, and I can't read Chinese.
Like it needs to be said, but if anybody stumbles across that information, totally post it.
actually, yes, I believe that was the reason given. They probably didn't want some challenger-esque footage following their future attempts.
slashdot, news for crazed liberal socialist zealots
Of interest, I believe this is the first time since 1969 that a single person has traveled alone in space. Every US flight since Mercury has had at least 2 people, the last 1 person flight was when the Soyuz was being validated.
Sadly, Komarov (the pilot of Soyuz 1) died when his spacecraft impacted the ground. I hope this brave Chinese pilot will have better luck.
TAIKONAUTS GO!
They're both tricky. America's had accidents in both phases. In fact, the "staying alive whilst up there" part is pretty tough too - remember Apollo 13?
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Few people realize this, but NASA's 45th Anniversary was just 14 days ago (Oct. 1st). While you are right that the US and the Russians achieved the same feat decades ago, look where they are right now. NASA is stagnating, having made no progress since the shuttle was deployed and merely continuing a program of attrition where their few resources are slowly being destroyed in one accident after another. The Russian program, while still somewhat effective, is severely strapped for cash and is still relying on the technology they developed in the 60s.
I for one applaud China for taking the initiative in the field of aerospace at a time when the rest of the world is facing inward, worrying about their stagnating economy or a petty squabble in the middle east*. Hopefully they will progress further succesfully and rapidly - we haven't had nearly enough development in aviation since the X-15 project was scrapped.
* I mean no disrespect to the Isreali nor Palestinian dead by this. Current events in that region are tragic, I merely wish that as humans we could rise above it and focus ourselves on more lofty goals as the Chinese have...
*Way to go China*
Kudos to all of the people involved.
Heres hoping for a safe and uneventful journey.
Merlin.
The Race never ends. And we have not lapped anyone, because we stopped advancing. The shuttle, while cool, gives us no advantages over a Chinese rocket based program.
They will catch up quick. In fact, they are basically all caught up as of today. China doesn't have to build a shuttle to catch... in fact, they and the ISS are slowing US down... so those things are going to make it easier for China to catch up.
China is saying "space science is still important". We can agree or disagree, but we can't sit on our laurels and expect it to last long.
-pyrrho
Anyone have any insight into why the Chinese would build their space base in the Gobi Desert, which I believe is in the northern part of the country? Wouldn't it make more sense to stick it on the Tibetan Plateau or somewhere nearer the equator? IIRC, this is why the U.S. space program launches from southern Florida and why I believe most of the Soviet launch sites are in Kazakhtstan (aren't they?)? Just seems like it would make more sense to launch from the southwestern part of the country, where there are still very few people but you get boosts from being nearer the equator and being higher in elevation (you know, less distance to go and weaker gravity at launch, not to mention less air resistance (Hmm, speaking of which, maybe the U.S. should start launching from Mauna Kea instead of Florida - we could make a "space sea-plane" so it would be able to land back in Hawaii)). Just seems that the Gobi Desert, which I assume was chosen more for remoteness than anything else, wouldn't have been the best spot for them to stick their space program (but I guess if they have a launch failure it will impact Mongolia, not China, so maybe thats why).
Just wondering if anyone's presented snapshots and/or audio recordings of the craft in orbit.
The pictures released by the Chinese media appear to be forged (I'm no rocket scientist, no pun intended), don't rockets typically have some form of a visable exhaust cloud/contrail?
Additionally, the rocket plume looks a little *too* ordered, and the launch vehicle itself looks a little *too* sharp around the edges, as if they knew exactly what focal length they set the cameras for (kind of like a cheap model)
Maybe with luck the Chinese will release actual footage of the launch?
Don't get me wrong, if they did it, cool beans. But between the first capsule tests and first manned launch, seems to be just a little too error free, and a little too quick in the achievements department to be real. Considering the craft is a knockoff of the Soyuz capsules, it still takes a while to get the engineering just right.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
I wrote in the article yesterday on the amazing amount racist xenophobia posted here whenever some other nation achieves something new in a scientific or technological field.
I am simply flabbergasted. Instead of congratulating the Chinese for a well planned, robust and cheap human space effort, which it is, there are literaly hundreds of hateful, ignorant, racist posts filled to the brim with spite and jealously. And I think it's a real problem with a lot of Americans because it happens so consistently. You want to know why so much of the world has a poor opinion of the USA? Read slashdot, where the supposedly technophile elite make comments based on a lack of knowledge, a sense of low self esteem and jealousy.
In my opinion, if there is anything that will be the undoing of the USA, it is those attitudes, because jealousy never won a space race. There's an old saying that basing one's actions on jealousy or envy is a guarantee of failure.
You want my real opinion? No, you don't but here it is anyway.
The China of today is, if anything, a fascist market state. The ignorance displayed here on Chinese (well, on any non US) poiltics is symbolic of a nation stearing blindly to its own future. The nominally Communist party has very little in common with collectivisation or any other tenets of Marx or Mao's preachings.
The Chinese have achieved a human launch in space with a well paced programme that has taken it's time and not rushed things, which is why this has gone so smoothly. It has done this with a budget that is less than 1/7th of NASA's. And before you start yet another round of 30 year old technology trolling, may I point out to you that the computing power in the Chinese rocketry is at least 20 years newer than that in the Space Shuttle.
NASA would be well advised to take a lesson from the simplicity and pacing of the Chinese programme.
The China of today is, if anything, a fascist market state. The ignorance displayed here on Chinese (well, on any non US) poiltics is symbolic of a nation stearing blindly to its own future. The nominally Communist party has very little in common with collectivisation or any other tenets of Marx or Mao's preachings.
Sorry for going off-topic. Honestly speaking, I see very little difference between practical applications of Fascism (3rd Reich, Mussolini's Italy) and Communism (Soviet Union, China). The rhetoric is different, but the practical effects are similar: a totalitarian state. Minorities (Jews or Tibetans or whatever) are persecuted, no criticism of the government is allowed, censorship and corruption are part of everyday life, military has a very important role in politics, ... the rant goes on and on.
A political decision ("put more money in a space program") is made in an entirely different environment in the USA. When the small, monolithic elite decides something in China, everyone has to shut up, expect when they are told to cheer. In USA, congress, elections, mass media and all the NGO:s influence the politics. Threefolding the Space Program spending for a decade is so much easier when you have no checks or balances.
Last winter (I live in Canada), I found a sick pigeon in my backyard. It was unable to fly so I decided to put it in a box in my home. I was thinking it will probably die in a few hours so why not let it die peacefully in a warm environment.
The pigeon didn't die and I kept it for about three months (until it was strong enough to fly). During these three months I "studied" it and I realized it was far more intelligent than I ever thought. After I released it, I continued to put some food in my backyard and pay more attention to these birds. I now know these birds are really intelligent and each one has it's own "personality".
I don't know about cows, buffalo or other animals as I never studied them but I guess you don't have any clue either. In fact by your comments about pigs I guess you're a muslim trying hard to justify the rules imposed by your culture and your religion. I'm sorry but if you believe something simply because everyone else around you does, then you are stupid.