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Chinese Astronaut Makes It Back Safely
brindafella writes "SpaceDaily is reporting that China's historic first manned space mission has ended with the safe return of its first astronaut Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liwei, 38, who landed just before 6.30am Beijing time (2230 UTC 15/10) at the designated recovery zone north east of Beijing. The capsule has been recovered and opened and the pilot is very much alive, 'and doing autographs.' Furthermore, 'Premier Wen Jiabao was seen on television talking to Yang on the phone and smiling widely and clapping after he hung up.'"
Is there anyone else that thinks this is China saying, "Screw you America, we don't need you and your restrictive anti-trust business practices?" I mean, all the recent events:
China Open-Sources
The Great Firewall of China
China's Moon Launch
Is it just me or is this China trying to assert its technological domninance, so to speak?
Taking 15 years to the next step is only reasonable, provided they make that next step. I'd much rather China not follow in the US's footsteps and make hurried overly specialized design decisions just to make it to the moon, then stop just when the bugs started to be worked out.
Slow but sustained development would be a terrific thing, unfortunately I think China's government is really only interested in the short term propaganda value, just like the US.
Doug
Venn ist das nurnstuck git und Slotermeyer? Ya! Beigerhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
We're spending all out money destroying Iraq and then rebuilding it.
Not meaning to sound bitter, and I think its fantastic that the Chinese did this. I hope China goes to the moon or beyond.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
I thought that usually more than one person goes into space at one time for safety measures. If he gets hurt or something and there is no other people to help him while in space he could become injured or dead and take very valuable and expensive equipment with him.
It should be noted that US hardware for human space travel is also based on designs which are around three decades old (with some upgrades). Ditto Russian hardware.
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
Did we get to see this guy before the launch? I am not advocating a conspiracy or anything, but I would bet that China had a backup prepared to make the media appearances if anything had gone wrong. They were certainly quite worried about having the launch televised.
To those not in the know, Firefly's set in a future where China became one of the dominant superpowers, influential enough that all the English-speaking characters can easily communicate... well, curse anyway... in Chinese (and Serenity's system alarms are bilingual, English and Cantonese). Could be that Joss Whedon's idea for a background might not be so farfetched!
This story suggests this isn't just a short-term propaganda project. The author's analysis of the systems involved, that they included a lot of equipment that you wouldn't bother with on a one-off design, suggest that they put a lot of thought behind the system and they're in this for the long haul.
I wonder if any amateur astronomers have verified the launch? The media on this is so controlled by the Chinese gov't, skepticism is definitely in order (really for any story coming out of the Chinese media). It's all about independent sources. Unfortunately, NASA would never say, "We checked it out; they weren't lying!" Not a great thing for international relations.
What I love is the report that the taikonaut was reading a flight manual during flight... "Now was I supposed to push the green button or the red button?"
That's putting it mildly. Our "captains of industry" don't think any farther ahead than four or five months. Our politicians don't think any farther ahead than the next election.
(Some of the other posts remind me of the Onion's sideline caption: 6,000-Year-Old Culture Now Considered a "Developing Nation".)
All the researched, published, well-documented reports about modern China -- i.e., ones in bookstores, not slashdot; actual books, not single web pages and sound bites -- point to plans stretching over the next ten to fifty years, not just for space, but for China in general. They realize that almost none of the plans will come to fruition in their lifetimes, but that's okay, their descendants will put the finishing touches on and see it happen. We in the U.S. wouldn't dream of investing in something that won't benefit the same people investing in it.
Analogy: In the minutes that China's rockets take to slowly lift off the ground, America is racing the quarter-mile in top-fuel hotrods and claiming they rule the world... while China's rocket gains momentum... and keeps gaining momemtum... and eventually covers distances the little modded hotrod can't even dream of. Yes, they're in for the very long haul.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
Life imitates art...
In Stephen Baxter's Titan, the Chinese launch their first manned ship around the same time as Columbia is destroyed upon re-entry!
The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
It appears that you do not know that Tsien Hsue-Shen, the founder of China's space program, was a member of NASA's JPL and a protege of Theodor von Karman, and learned from Wernher von Braun.
LS
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
No, let's not. I know it's a pipe dream but I'd much rather see some real, proper international cooperation, and I'm sure many of the scientists working in this area would love to see this as well. With all the great minds working in this area (after all, 3 nations have individually now put humans into space) imagine what could be achieved?
Umm, absolutely nothing?
It's a fact of human nature. Without competition, there is no urgency. Without that, an unlimited amount of time and money gets spent on looking for the "perfect" solution where in competition, a decision would be made because it has to be made. NOW. Even if it's not perfect, a reasonably good (or at least, not bad) decision now is infinitely superior to a perfect decision made at some unspecified time in the future. NASA itself is proof: given time and money, scientists will get nothing done. Given a hard limit on both and someone to race against, miracles occur. There is literally centuries of evidence, that competition gets stuff done, cooperation does not. It is a fundamental part of being human, that we love to compete and are motivated by worthy adversaries. Anyone who says anything different is a fool.