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

I swear

[$RANDOMLUSER]

I read "Take Out Naut".

Wanna bet China reaches the moon before we go back

[Kelson]

Meanwhile, back in the US, the Republicans claim they want to take us back to space but aren't willing to put their money where their mouth is (though they're quite happy to cut funding for robotic exploration in order to free up the funds!), the Democrats seem to be opposing space exploration on the grounds that the Republicans are for it, and NASA's manned space division doesn't seem to be able to get its act together enough to actually give us a safer orbiter, never mind something that can take us to the Moon or Mars.

Dontcha love partisan politics?

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.

waiting for aussie to go into space

[ptr2004]

Then we will have a real AUSTRONAUT

Unified terminology

[KrancHammer]

Can we please decide on a single term for those persons who travel into space? Must we have a unique term for every national space program? Cosmonaut, Astronaut, Taikonaut. Its one thing for speakers of a language to refer to an equivalent English term by their own unique word, but why must we (we being English speakers) adopt a different term? Its silly. We generally do not do this for any other nouns. We don't call a Russian sailor by the Anglicized Russian term for sailer, do we? Sorry. Pet peeve.

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.

Re:Wanna bet China reaches the moon before we go b

[Kelson]

I bet that China will land man on the moon a few times and never go back. Basically, it's pure politics and not science. ...been there, done that.

Just like the US...

If we'd been interested in going to the moon for the sake of exploration and science instead of just getting there before the Russians did, we'd probably still be there.

Re:Wanna bet China reaches the moon before we go b

[MightyMartian]

Let's face facts here. China is a space power now. Sure they're where the Russians and Americans were in the early 1960s, but considering the costs and expertise required to get a human into space and back again alive, it's an extraordinary feat for a country that just a half century ago was recovering from the ravages of a civil war and a foreign occupation of a good portion of its soil. China realizes what the US and Russia have temporarily forgotten, that with virtually all the borders on this planet drawn for good, power and security rest in space.

Going to the Moon may be just a PR stunt (it pretty much was when the US did it), but the technologies and expertise gained from that are enormous, and China is taking its rightful place as the third space power. It's a few decades behind, but moving fast, and say what you like, the Kremlin and the White House will very much be watching when a Taikonaut steps off the land on to the surface of the Moon.

Re:Wanna bet China reaches the moon before we go b

[CaptainFork]

Yep, well, governments are all the same of course.

The differences are with the ideologies. But ask yourself this: Do you own your ideology, or does it own you?

An alien visitor to earth would probably say "take me to your leading meme".

Re:Wanna bet China reaches the moon before we go b

[amightywind]

Wanna bet China reaches the moon before we go back

Yes, I would. If China succeeds in there next mission they will equal the result of Gemini 4. That puts them only 40 years behind. Remember that they got a jump start too by buying Russion Soyuz spacecraft. Their booster is similar to a Proton. When China produces a real innovation I'll take notice. In the meantime they are also rans.

Meanwhile, back in the US, the Republicans claim they want to take us back to space but aren't willing to put their money where their mouth is (though they're quite happy to cut funding for robotic exploration in order to free up the funds!)

What??? NASA's budget continues to grow in real terms. Robotic exploration of the solar system has never been in better shape. You have the wildly successful Cassini. We have two excellent orbiters circling Mars with a 3rd more powerful one on the way. The Mars rovers are arguably the most successful robotic exploration mission in history! There is another huge rover headed there in 2009, a new Lunar Orbiter... What are you talking about?

and NASA's manned space division doesn't seem to be able to get its act together enough to actually give us a safer orbiter, never mind something that can take us to the Moon or Mars.

NASA has proposed a very workable and exciting exploration plan with the CEV. The major launch components are already there. Where is the risk in its design? NASA kept the wheels on the shuttle program admirably. Nobody can make it safe. The CEV goes back to what works. Real skepticism is healthy. Your nihilism is not.

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.