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China Completes First Space Docking Test

Posted by samzenpus on from the you-got-craft-in-my-lab dept.

MrSeb writes "China has joined two space vehicles together in orbit for the first time. The unmanned Shenzhou 8 craft, launched earlier this week, made contact with the Tiangong-1 space lab at 1729 GMT. The union occurred over China itself. Being able to dock two space vehicles together is a necessary capability for China if it wants to start building a space station towards the end of the decade."

10 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. Fast track into space by ackthpt · · Score: 2

    China's certainly moving at a brisk pace. I expect they learned as much as they could from the US and Russia and are throwing their full weight behind it.

    Best of luck to them, but please be honest with your setbacks (you will have them) rather than attempt to snow the world media with tales of a program which makes no mistakes at all, ever.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:Fast track into space by EdZ · · Score: 2

      Fast? They're already nearly a year late! The Leonov would beat them by miles even without a refueling stop at Europa.

    2. Re:Fast track into space by 0123456 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      China's certainly moving at a brisk pace.

      NASA:

      First manned flight: 1962
      First orbital rendevouz: 1965
      First orbital docking: 1966

      China:

      First manned flight: 2003
      First orbital docking: 2011

      I'd say more 'glacial' than 'brisk'

    3. Re:Fast track into space by damburger · · Score: 2

      A little unfair. Tiangong 1 is quite a bit more sophisticated than the Agena Target Vehicle, and Shenzhou 8 can perform an automated docking whilst Gemini could not.

      In any case, what is the rush?

      --
      If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
    4. Re:Fast track into space by shadowfaxcrx · · Score: 2

      NASA did the first docking 4 years after the first flight because they were racing for the moon. We've already gotten to the moon, and so China doesn't need to race. Instead, they can go slower and more thoughtfully (and had we done that, arguably Apollo 1 would never have happened) and end up with something stronger at the end (unlike us, who ended up going to the moon 6 times and then pretty much giving up on space advancement beyond an LEO pickup truck).

      --
      "I disagree with you" does not equal "flamebait."
  2. Now, to add to their military base by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, few seem to realize that China's Space program is a miltiary only. They are more military than was USSR's

  3. Don't talk, act by G3ckoG33k · · Score: 2

    An old Chinese proverb - don't talk, act.

    Like it used to be, here and there.

    (No, it wasn't an old Chinese proverb, but it could have been)

  4. Re:A Space Race with one runner by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So when you launch a single Han into space, does that make them a Han... Solo?

  5. Congrats! by T-Mckenney · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Instead of playing who has the bigger cock here (I'm looking at you America, Russia, ESA). Lets congratulate another country making its way into space, opening the way for human expansion to the cosmos. We need to get over this "my country has a bigger cock than yours" or "the USA is doomed because China is now in space" and start concentrating on collaboration as a species. Congrats, China! Welcome to the club. -T

  6. Re:software and/or communications is needed for sp by Matheus · · Score: 2

    A wrap drive would be pretty cool... you wrap the universe around yourself and then everywhere is only a step away.

    Brilliant!