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China's First Spacewalk

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the hold-your-breath dept.

Smivs writes "The BBC reports that China will launch its third manned space mission in late September, according to state-run news agency Xinhua. The Shenzhou VII flight will feature China's first-ever space walk, which will be broadcast live with cameras inside and outside the spacecraft. For the spacewalk, two crew members will go into the spacecraft's vacuum module. One yuhangyuan (astronaut) will carry out the spacewalk; the other is there to monitor the activity and assist in case of an emergency. Two types of spacesuits — one made in China, the other from Russia — will be carried up on the flight. It is unclear why China has opted for two different types of spacesuit. Spaceflight analyst Dr Morris Jones commented that China might want to test the suits against each other. Alternatively, he said, it might not be ready or willing to fly a mission exclusively with its own suits."

39 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. I know what they're up to... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...and I can't stand by to let it happen! To arms, people, they're going to censor the IIS's wifi!

    1. Re:I know what they're up to... by Evil+Pete · · Score: 2, Informative

      You mean the ISS. Though an attack on IIS would probably be business as usual, after all doesn't it stand for It Isn't Secure ?

      --
      Bitter and proud of it.
  2. Whatwhatwhat? by Mastadex · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What kinda link is this:

    http://science.slashdot.org/ChinawilllaunchitsthirdmannedspacemissioninlateSeptember,state-runnewsagencyXinhuareports.TheShenzhouVIIflightwillfeatureChina

    --
    A morning without coffee is like something without something else.
    1. Re:Whatwhatwhat? by Smivs · · Score: 2, Informative

      The correct link is http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/7602968.stm. Don't know how that happened...possibly censored by thr Chinese?
      Smivs

      --
      Smivs on the intertubes!
  3. State run media? by Tom90deg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hmm..Well, while I wish the Chinese astronauts the best of luck and hope they get back safely, I doubt that the film is going to be "Live" More likely? A nice safe delay of, oh...a hour to make sure that nothing gets shown that's not supposed to be shown.

    China has too much media control to trust something as unpredictable as live TV, especially in a situation where so many things could go wrong.

    On that note, good luck! Maybe this'll get us off our asses and back up into space! A little competition never hurt nobody.

    1. Re:State run media? by damburger · · Score: 4, Informative

      Why not? Most live events have a delay, because sometimes bad shit happens. I don't think the Chinese state not making its own impromptu snuff film has anything to do with their censorship practices.

      --
      If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
    2. Re:State run media? by oodaloop · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A little competition never hurt nobody.

      Except the loser.

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    3. Re:State run media? by Tom90deg · · Score: 2, Interesting

      True, most live events have a delay, I believe the moon mission had a 5 minute (about) delay. The difference was this delay was because of the ol' laws of physics. With China...It may be for a different reason. As an example, I believe that China's first manned mission was not shown until it had actually lifted off, then all the channels switched to the "Breaking news story!" to show it rocketing upwards. I recall something about that, but of course, I could be wrong.

    4. Re:State run media? by necro81 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Most live events have a delay

      Yes, but in uncontrolled media markets, there is an incentive to keep that delay as short as possible. If you don't have it as close to live as possible, the next guy will, or some blogger. When the President comes on to give a live address, it has maybe a 5-second delay, not an hour. This is, in part, how some live shows occasionally get into trouble - remember the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" as the SuperBowl a few years back?

      When Armstrong stepped onto the Moon, he was live to the entire world.

    5. Re:State run media? by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well on the manned Moon mission for the US. If something happened and they couldn't have returned to home, they would have turned off all contact with them and Nixon had a wonderful speech to give about their deaths preprepared to give in this case even if they were still alive but stranded on the moon.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    6. Re:State run media? by Lincolnshire+Poacher · · Score: 4, Informative

      > I doubt that the film is going to be "Live"

      The Shenzhou 6 launch in October 2005 was the first to be broadcast live in China, so they may yet surprise you.

      After all. if something does go wrong there is little that can be done to hide it. This isn't Leonov's era - telemetry and communications will be under constant scrutiny.

    7. Re:State run media? by cmr-denver · · Score: 5, Informative

      There were actually extensive plans made for that very contingency. The speech (draft) was written for Nixon by William Safire. In my opinion, it is one of the finest pieces of writing I've ever seen:

      "Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.

      These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.

      These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding. They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.

      In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.

      In ancient days, men looked at the stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.

      Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.

      For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind."

  4. Descision making by Hrshgn · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm just asking myself how they decided which of the two astronauts will have the honor to try the Chinese spacesuit?

    1. Re:Descision making by cashman73 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'm not sure that would such an "honor". Judging by the quality of 90% of their other products, I think I'd take the "Made in Russia" suit, myself,... ;-)

    2. Re:Descision making by phantomcircuit · · Score: 2, Funny

      WHOOOOOSH

  5. Good... by interactive_civilian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I realize that China isn't the moral leaders of the world, but I'm happy to see them playing catch-up when it comes to manned space-flight.

    Because, given the way China tends to think, when I see them putting men in space, it makes me think they already have long term plans for trips to the moon, and perhaps even a permanent presence off-planet. And I say, it's about time.

    Humans could do much worse than start making the steps to get us off this rock.

    --
    "Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
    1. Re:Good... by damburger · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Catch up? I would say that Shenzhou is at least comparable with other manned space flight systems. The shuttle is on its last legs and crippled with problems. Soyuz is also due to be retired.

      As essentially a larger version of Soyuz, with an orbital module that can operate indepedently. The program might not be moving fast (although now the Chinese have finished with the olympics they might redirect more resources) they do have the most technically impressive craft currently flying.

      --
      If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
    2. Re:Good... by Swizec · · Score: 2, Informative

      A permanent moonbase has one significant advantage: low gravity.

      It's much easier laucnhing stuff deep into space if it's built and launched in low gravity. You can build it larger, you waste less fuel for launch and a bunch of other useful stuff.

    3. Re:Good... by jimdread · · Score: 2, Informative

      Because, given the way China tends to think, when I see them putting men in space, it makes me think they already have long term plans for trips to the moon, and perhaps even a permanent presence off-planet. And I say, it's about time. Humans could do much worse than start making the steps to get us off this rock.

      The first step would be to build a space station in Earth orbit. Okay, let's pretend that's done. Then we need to build a spaceship at the space station. This spaceship would be used to fly from the station out into space or the moon. It would never go to Earth, so it doesn't need to be streamlined. Then we can fly the fuel for it to the space station, where it can refuel. The advantage would be that we wouldn't need to launch the spaceship from Earth's surface every time. It can fly from earth orbit where the station is.

      The spaceship would have to go find some fuel sources in space, and resources to build more ships and more space stations. Otherwise these materials would have to be flown up from Earth at great expense. They'd also have to build some space-greenhouses for growing plants for people to eat. And probably space-barns full of space-cows and space-chickens. And space-burger-joints selling squished-up space-cow burgers inna tube.

      As for getting us off this planet, it might be possible. If we get some good advances in space travel, the cost of launching something into orbit might get down to $100/kg. That would be a cost of say $10,000 per person, so it's not completely unreasonable. We could launch the whole USA population into space for three trillion dollars! But they'd want somewhere to live, and stuff to eat. That's why we'd need the space stations, space barns, and space burger joints.

      Then once we have people living in space for long enough, somebody can invent a hyperspace drive, or else we can build generation ships to fly to the next star over.

    4. Re:Good... by inhuman_4 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I am afraid I must disagree. The Shenzhou is certianly newer, and probably better then the Soyuz. But it is far from the most impresive.

      The big deal with the Space Shuttle is that it can carry seven people, a large chunk of cago, and the shuttle can be re-used (although not as well as was planned). It may be near the end of its life span, but as far as capabilities go it is still the best the world has.

      For the Soyuz is claim to fame is its consistancy. The Soyuz design is the most tested manned flight system out there. So while yes it may be old and crappy, its got a solid reputation. Not to mention that it is cheap, and fast to launch.

      Give the Shenzhou another decade and it could replace the Soyuz as the cheap way to get to space, but the Shuttle is still the king in terms of capabilities.

    5. Re:Good... by damburger · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The ability to carry up cargo and passengers isn't that impressive when you look at the costs. Putting up the same quantity of people and cargo with 2 Soyuz launches and one Proton costs $180 million whilst a Shuttle launch costs over $400 million.

      Reusability isn't all its cracked up to be for the Shuttle. It has made it more expensive than throw-away alternatives, and the thing has to be practically rebuilt every flight as well.

      The only capability the Shuttle has which the Russian launchers do not is returning cargo, and that hasn't been used in a while.

      --
      If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
    6. Re:Good... by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A permanent moonbase is like the war in Iraq: Sure, some profit off it but essentially you are throwing money away.

      Yeah, just like the war in Iraq, except without the part about, you know, killing people.

      The US is still a very rich country (not, granted, as rich relative to the rest of the world as we were in the 1960s, but still) and we can afford to do things that don't show an immediate profit. Speaking as someone who has seen war up close and personal -- and whose father was one of the people who made the moon landings happen -- I'd much rather have us spending money on space exploration than on wars of aggression.

      --
      The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
    7. Re:Good... by Richard_at_work · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Which is why it needs to be done in baby steps:
      1. Manned moon base - supported by Earth with regular cargo shipments
      2. Self sustaining manned moon base - they can grow their own food, repair their own facilities and do not need support from Earth
      3. Basic mining and refining of ore with support from Earth - the initial tools to do the job are brought up from Earth
      4. Self sustaining basic mining - refined ore is used to produce replacement parts and new tools
      5. Advanced mining - could be self sustaining, might not be
      6. Basic large structure construction - possibly expanding the moonbase or building new vehicles for achieving lunar orbit
      7. Advanced large structure construction - building lunar orbit to earth transfer vehicles in lunar orbit

      Once you have completed that last stage, you have the basic plans for going anywhere in the solar system at a fraction of the price of new build from Earth. Yes, its a fantastic idea now if you simply say 'use the moon to build space ships', but not if you break it down into logical steps.

      Of course, the idea that anyone is actually going to finance this is fantasy in and of itself...

    8. Re:Good... by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The Soyuz design is the most tested manned flight system out there.

      Except for the Shuttle, of course. Which has flown more flights (123 as opposed to 99), with a higher success rate (two major failures as opposed to four).

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    9. Re:Good... by AJWM · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Given that the Progress resupply ships are essentially unmanned Soyuz capsules, I think you have to count a lot more than merely the 99 manned flights. The launch system is essentially the same in either case, even if there are detail differences in the orbital vehicles. (I can't readily find total number of Progress launches, but it was 43 - all successful - to Salyuts 6 and 7; plus many since then to Mir and 30 to ISS.)

      --
      -- Alastair
    10. Re:Good... by DerekLyons · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The Soyuz design is the most tested manned flight system out there.

      Not even remotely, the current mark of the design only has thirteen flights. Soyuz, overall, only has 90 odd flights *total* as compared to the Shuttle which is up around 120.
       
       

      So while yes it may be old and crappy, its got a solid reputation.

      A reputation totally undeserved and based on many people being utterly ignorant of the history of Soyuz - which includes a long series of dangerous near misses, total mission failures, and landing issues. Three of the last five landings have had serious failures!
       
       

      Not to mention that it is cheap, and fast to launch.

      Yeah, it's cheap. So is a Yugo or a Vespa scooter. You get what you pay for.

  6. Smart testing by Chairboy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    China is fast tracking their progress in space, and they're doing pretty good risk management to get it done. They used Russian experience when designing their capsule system (their spacecraft has a number of big similarities to the Soyuz capsule, very very big similarities, and now they're taking up a backup suit in case a design flaw appears during the test that would affect a rescuer. It's a fine idea and doesn't indicate some big uncertainty about their own design, it shows a clear headed decision to trade a possible nationalistic PR win for a measured, risk aware backup plan that puts the lives of their Taikonauts ahead of the usual spin goals.

    I'm not a huge fan of PRC in general, but their space program has been well executed so far. They're making good use of available data while still innovating on their terms instead of having to build everything from scratch.

    1. Re:Smart testing by damburger · · Score: 4, Informative

      One major difference? You joke surely;

      1. The engines were on the stack, not the orbiter. The stack could (and did) fly without the orbiter at all
      2. There were four boosters instead of two.
      3. The boosters were liquid, not solid fueled

      Even the link you provided as alleged evidence that it was just stolen technology acknowledges these very major differences.

      --
      If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
    2. Re:Smart testing by v1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      From the sound of it, this "vacuum module" is there so they can evacuate it slowly and check for leaks, and if a problem happens, re-pressurize it quickly. That's safer for lots of reasons. Firstly, you don't need to get the guinea pig back IN the ship before you can begin to re-pressurize them. Secondly no risk of a hose splitting and causing them to rocket away from the ship. (and break a tether)

      The use of two suits is a good plan also. I'd expect them to have two people in the vacuum module, one in the russian suit and one in their new suit. If there's an emergency with the new suit, having someone in the module to help could make all the difference.

      Does make me wonder though how much ground testing they've done. One would assume they've done a lot of vacuum testing on the ground already, but they sure are going about this slowly despite that. They should already know if their suit is OK before flying it up into space. The lack of gravity seems unlikely to change the behavior of the suit.

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  7. Nine comments... by tgd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All nine of you are totally busted for pretending you read the article, since the link doesn't work.

  8. An astronaut by any other name... by Dan+East · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why does the media use foreign names for astronauts from other countries? We've got cosmonaut and now "yuhangyuan"? That's ridiculous. Is "astronaut" somehow reserved for only US spacefarers? I think this whole thing is a leftover from the cold war, where it was somehow insulting to use the same terminology for Soviet and US astronauts, probably because of the fierce competition.

    On another note, if the astronauts don't leave the confines of their ship, and merely evacuate all the air, is that really a "space walk"?

    --
    Better known as 318230.
    1. Re:An astronaut by any other name... by barzok · · Score: 4, Informative

      As NASA has defined it, only US space-going individuals may claim the title "astronaut." Further, they cannot be civilians, at least according to an article in the latest Wired.

      Aside from surviving the trip, Garriott has one more wish--to earn the title of astronaut. As a gamer, he cares deeply about the difference between character classes--whether a ninja, merchant, or citizen spaceman. But the moniker he has dreamed of all his life is not coming easily. NASA has strict rules about how it titles its explorers, and Garriott cannot qualify, no matter what he does, because he's a private citizen. Instead of an astronaut, they'll call him a space flight participant.

      http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-09/ff_starcity?currentPage=6

  9. Scary space walk by Dystopian+Rebel · · Score: 5, Funny

    If I were the yuhangyuan on the tether, I'd be yelling "You Hang You On!" like crazy!

    Joy luck, gentlemen.

    --
    Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
    1. Re:Scary space walk by Nerdfest · · Score: 2, Funny

      I keep thinking "Space Wok, with yuhangyuan!". Must be too close to lunch.

  10. Differing space suits by halcyon1234 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It is unclear why China has opted for two different types of spacesuit.

    Because the first type of suit doesn't come in child sizes

    --
    UTF-8: There and Back Again
  11. Re:OMG someone stop the Chinese right now by eln · · Score: 4, Funny

    The reference makes no sense if it's referring to Spaceballs. The bubble around Druidia (the air shield) was intended to keep the air in, not the people. The people could presumably come and go as they pleased as long as they knew the combination (which, coincidentally, is the same combination I have on my luggage).

  12. typo... by da5idnetlimit.com · · Score: 2, Funny

    =>the US would benefit more with exploring the Universe than exploding Iraq

    Here, I done it for you.

    --
    It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
  13. Coincide with "Founders Day" Oct 1 by peter303 · · Score: 2, Informative

    59th Anniversary of the founding of The Peoples Republic of China Oct 1, 1949. (If weather holds and no saftey glitches.) Originally they were considering tying this into the Olympics, but decided to spread 2008 events out.

  14. Spacewalk postponed by Bobb+Sledd · · Score: 3, Informative

    I heard they had to postpone the spacewalk until they found new astronauts... Turns out the ones they already had qualified were under-aged. :-)

    --
    "They said I probly shouldn't fly with just one eye," "I am Bender. Please insert girder."