Another Taikonaut Launch This Week

JPThorne writes "BBC Online is reporting that China will launch a manned space mission sometime between Wednesday and Sunday of this week. Two as yet unnamed Chinese Astronauts will undertake the mission." From the article: "The launch comes almost exactly two years after China's first manned space flight, which made astronaut Yang Liwei a national hero. Unlike the last mission, Xinhua said a live broadcast of the launch would be provided to foreign media. Analysts say the fact the authorities are being more open about this launch may indicate that they are more confident of its success. "

Comments

So I guess...

[lucabrasi999]

I guess this means that since China can now afford to send (two) ships into space, it doesn't need any more Foreign Aid from the EU, Japan or the US.

Biased Reporting - "Backward", Anti-Chinese

[justanyone]

From the Article:

Shenzhou VI, like Shenzhou V, is based on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, a model developed in the late 1960s.

TFA (The F-ing Article) reads as if they are working with 1960-s era technology. I would suggest that this is biased reporting based on a premise that the Chinese technology is from the 1960's and they're using it now because that's the best they can do.

Instead, I would suggest that they are probably using a derivative of the Soyuz technology updated with modern materials and techniques. The U.S. is using Delta launch vehicles which had their roots in the 1960's as well, but we don't advertise that a rocket was a "Delta-IV, a model developed in the early 1960's" because most of the innards have been updated and redesigned with techniques and materials that are the latest in rocket design.

The Chinese program may not use as advanced a technology as the U.S. Delta and E.U.'s Ariane programs, but that doesn't mean the rocket was designed in the 1960's and they're stuck still using that level of ability.

Space reporting should not be politically biased.

Re:Biased Reporting - "Backward", Anti-Chinese

[justanyone]

Complete, relevent section of article reads:

Technical improvements:

Shenzhou VI, like Shenzhou V, is based on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, a model developed in the late 1960s.
Liu Yu, commander in chief of the rocket system, said the rocket for Shenzhou VI was an improvement on the one used two years ago. "We have confidence in the quality of this rocket. We have the conditions and capability to fulfil this mission," Mr Liu told Xinhua.

Mr Yang's flight in 2003 made China only the third nation to put a human into space, after Russia and the United States. China has had a rocketry program since the 1950s, and Beijing fired its first satellite into orbit in 1970. China's space programme, which is closely linked to the military, is a matter of enormous national pride for the government. Chinese officials say they want to land an unmanned probe on the moon by 2010, and also build a space station.


I stand by my previous assessment. I acknowledge that some articles mention that Delta rockets are derived from 1950's American THOR IRBM military rockets (see: Delta_rocket on Wikipedia). However, most mention that this has been significantly improved in the intervening decades. This article has a subtle bias that I want to highlight; the idea that the Chinese (and even Russian) Soyuz-derived rockets are somehow outdated, backward, stone-age 1960's-era technology compared to U.S. and E.U. models (like, laughably, the Space Shuttle, designed in the very early 1970's for quasi-military missions).

Admittedly, some of the Chinese technology might seem backward. In the 1980's, they lauched a probe that had to re-enter Earth's atmosphere and needed a heat shield. They researched a bunch of different high tech materials, testing ablating rates, weight, cost, heat transfer, etc., and finally settled on Oak. Yes, a wooden heat shield. It apparently ablated at a known and reliable rate, was a good heat insulator, and had many other benefits, the very least of which was cost. I recognize engineering genius in this decision, but the reporting on it laughed and laughed about the low-tech, backwards-assed Chinese program. I disrespect reporting that presumes that high tech requires high cost; I also disrespect reporting that pretends that basic designs originating in the 1960's but refined constantly since then are somehow less than state of the art.

In programming, it's "On the shoulders of giants we climb"; this is true of many engineering disciplines and I want to highlight the sometimes subtle bias in science reporting presuming all-new == much-better.

ISS docking prospects

[matt me]

As stated, the Shenzou capsule is based on the Russian Soyuz (the most robust and reliable craft ever) - this means, interestingly that China have the technological potential to dock with the ISS. But would the US would ever allow them? Politically, no, but it is an INTERNATIONAL space station, and arguably given Russian have been keeping it alive for the past two years, they should. be presured into it. Maybe after the US have pulled out, China could go up there.