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China Just Launched Two Astronauts Into Orbit (bbc.com)
An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes the BBC: China has launched two men into orbit in a project designed to develop its ability to explore space. The astronauts took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northern China at 23:30 GMT on Sunday [7:30 p.m. EST].
The plan is for them to dock with and then spend 30 days on board the Tiangong 2 space station testing its ability to support life. This and previous launches are seen as pointers to possible crewed missions to the Moon or Mars.
NBC calls this evidence of "the intensifying U.S.-China space rivalry... With the current U.S.-led International Space Station expected to retire in 2024, China could be the only nation left with a permanent presence in space."
The plan is for them to dock with and then spend 30 days on board the Tiangong 2 space station testing its ability to support life. This and previous launches are seen as pointers to possible crewed missions to the Moon or Mars.
NBC calls this evidence of "the intensifying U.S.-China space rivalry... With the current U.S.-led International Space Station expected to retire in 2024, China could be the only nation left with a permanent presence in space."
China put their first man in space in 2003, with a completely independent program rather than scraps of Russian hardware. It was decimated by 100 years of industrial warfare against the entire western world, putting even the Soviet Union to shame for their significantly slower recovery from a paltry German invasion.
I, for one, think we should stay in the trees. We have enough problems to solve here before we go roaming the grasslands in search of denser food sources.
Because America is such a champion of Human Rights...
Chinese space travelers are Taikonauts, much as Russian space travelers are Cosmonauts.
So what do you call a Chinese-born American resident who travels on a Soyuz spacecraft to work in the Italian-built ESA module of the International space station?
How long would it take the US to launch a manned moon mission?
Well, it is going to take 30 years to finish the BART extension from Fremont to San Jose, and a moon landing is more complex than that. So it could be a while.