Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

China's Rocket Fails After Liftoff (cnn.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the suffering-setbacks dept.

An anonymous reader quotes CNN: The second launch of China's new-generation Long March-5 carrier rocket failed Sunday -- dealing a blow to the country's ambitious space aspirations. Carrying an experimental communications satellite, China's largest rocket lifted off at 7:23 p.m. local time (7:23 a.m. ET) toward clear skies from the seaside Wenchang space launch center on the southern Chinese island of Hainan. But 40 minutes later, the state-run Xinhua news agency flashed a headline declaring the launch a failure -- without providing any details.

Dubbed "Chubby 5" for its huge size -- 5 meters in diameter and 57 meters tall -- the LM-5 rocket is designed to carry up to 25 tons of payload into low orbit, more than doubling the country's previous lift capability... The launch failure means further delay for a series of planned Chinese space endeavors -- including its robotic and eventual human lunar programs -- according to Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the US Naval War College and an expert on China's space program... China has announced plans to land a robotic probe on the dark side of the moon later this year and to reach Mars around 2020. All such future missions will depend on the LM-5 and space officials told reporters Sunday that the latest launch would help perfect the rocket design, including enabling it to send a space station into orbit "in a year or two."
This morning Elon Musk tweeted his condolences, adding "I know how painful that is to the people who designed & built it."

114 comments

  1. I had that problem by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    I went to go see a doctor to fix it.

    1. Re:I had that problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      HEHEHEH boioioioioing!

    2. Re:I had that problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's no way you'd last anywhere near an hour...

    3. Re: I had that problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Probably cut costs too deep as usual

    4. Re:I had that problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No need to. My intelligence sources have revealed to me that it failed due to US sabotage; they managed to put creimer in the rocket.

  2. Re:Thank you, President Xi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's the next one gonna be called? The Creimer 6?

  3. Re:Thank you, President Xi by Brett+Buck · · Score: 1

    I am waiting for them to get to Chubby 9

  4. Everything's going according to Trump's plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trump's NSA programmed a stuxnet worm that fucked up the chinaman's rocketship! Down with China! MAGA!!!

    1. Re:Everything's going according to Trump's plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's The People's rocketship, comrade.

    2. Re:Everything's going according to Trump's plan by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 0

      Trump's NSA programmed a stuxnet worm that fucked up the chinaman's rocketship! Down with China! MAGA!!!

      If only they had just not peed in our coke.

  5. made in china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    or imported from north korea?

    1. Re:made in china? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      imported from north korea

      It _IS_ nicknamed 'Chubby'.

  6. Re:As Michael Jordan has said... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    mod up +1 Insightful

  7. Re:Thank you, President Xi by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2

    What's the next one gonna be called? The Creimer 6?

    That would implied a more muscular rocket design. :P

  8. With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by Hognoxious · · Score: 0

    "I know how painful that is to the people who designed & built it."

    You don't really, Elon. Unless you've started sending people to the salt mines.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2

      You don't really, Elon. Unless you've started sending people to the salt mines.

      You really think the Central Committee is going to send rocket scientists to the salt mines because they lost a vehicle?

      This isn't Italy, you know.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    2. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by sl3xd · · Score: 2

      Only Stalin's Russia was so harsh as to demand gulag time for a rocket failure. (And to his credit, Korolev took the full blame, knowing he was indispensable)

      I'm not even convinced Norh Korea would be so shortsighted as to send a rocket scientist to a salt mine over a launch failure.

      China definitely wouldn't... they save that for dissidents

      --
      -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
    3. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by cheesybagel · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Korolev himself was sent to work in a platinum mine where he lost his teeth when he was younger. If it wasn't for Tupolev getting him out, to work in his prison lab, he would quite likely have died there in the mines. Korolev was interested in rocket powered airplanes when he was younger. Those back then were considered to have limited applications, so he was basically sentenced for misusing state resources or something like that.

    4. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "people who designed & built it"
      How much "design" is really needed when you have 1000's of previous rocket launches and 60 years worth of published research to start with? Has anybody introduced game changing technologies that make today's rockets superior to those that have been launched for over 60 years? And the Space X technology for landing and reusing the first stages of the rocket may eventually be more cost effective but I think the people paying to put stuff into orbit would gladly pay a little more if that meant their multi-million dollar payloads don't blowup a few seconds after take off.

      And anyone can have one rocket mishap but to have 2 in a row for the same rocket type is a little puzzling. The Chinese are normally conservative and very risk adverse when doing anything that makes the country look bad.

    5. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Research and development are two different words because they mean two different things. Even with all the research you need already done, you still need to develop the thing. Just because you know in principle how a bike works, you can't just conjure one.

    6. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by sit1963nz · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ROTFLMAO, this from a country that has about 1% of its adult population in prison. You have the highest prison population (per 100,000) in the world.
      Worse, is those prisons are often work camps, you either work making stuff that makes the owners money or you go to solitary.

      You have children sent to Juvi for disrupting class.

      Never mind all the "back ops" sites where you can detain people without charge , with access to lawyers, etc etc indefinitely.

      Clean up your own mess.

    7. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 1

      The rocket scientists? No. But I would sure hate to be their family right about now...

    8. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anything the GP doesn't understand is, by definition, easy to do.

    9. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by Hognoxious · · Score: 0

      ROTFLMAO, this from a country that has about 1% of its adult population in prison. You have the highest prison population (per 100,000) in the world.

      No we don't. Stop lying.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    10. Re: With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do you say Dindu Nuffin in the various Chinese dialects?

    11. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by sit1963nz · · Score: 3, Informative

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), 2,220,300 adults were incarcerated in US federal and state prisons, and county jails in 2013 – about 0.91% of adults (1 in 110) in the U.S. resident population.[2] Additionally, 4,751,400 adults in 2013 (1 in 51) were on probation or on parole.[2] In total, 6,899,000 adults were under correctional supervision (probation, parole, jail, or prison) in 2013 – about 2.8% of adults (1 in 35) in the U.S. resident population

    12. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes you do. Get your head out of your ass

    13. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by chispito · · Score: 1

      And anyone can have one rocket mishap but to have 2 in a row for the same rocket type is a little puzzling. The Chinese are normally conservative and very risk adverse when doing anything that makes the country look bad.

      The first launch succeeded.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    14. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), 2,220,300 adults were incarcerated in US federal and state prisons, and county jails in 2013 – about 0.91% of adults (1 in 110) in the U.S. resident population.

      See! It's not 1%! It's only 0.91% Big difference! Huge!

    15. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Given the % of US citizens with Criminal records, we should ignore the Muslims and Block Americans from leaving the USA.
      Hell you have even elected a sex offender as president

    16. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by sit1963nz · · Score: 1

      Is that you Donald ????

    17. Re: With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      DuLeh Lo Mo

    18. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fake news! ;)

    19. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait, i thought he was a tax cheater?

    20. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's also incarcerated for any period of time during the year. Spend a night in the drunk tank, that counts.

    21. Re:With respect, Mr Musk, you're full of shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stalin put almost all the plane and rocket scientists behind barbed wire to work on planes and rockets.
      Tupolev, Antonov, and so on, all they where "sitting" in camps.

      In the special science and technology facilities often located within large cities, the arrested engineers lived schizophrenic lives. They had relative autonomy in prison barracks. They were well fed. Yet they had no doubt that they were in a Stalinist labor camp. Arbitrary acts of the terror, such as the sudden removal of a prisoner from the workshop, might intrude at any moment.

  9. Dark side of the moon, eh? by Daniel+Franklin · · Score: 2

    Possibly you mean far side?

    1. Re:Dark side of the moon, eh? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      No. See meaning 4.

      https://www.merriam-webster.co...

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:Dark side of the moon, eh? by ChatHuant · · Score: 1

      There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark.

    3. Re:Dark side of the moon, eh? by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

      No. The whole moon has been photographed in about comparable detail.

      'Dark' is just wrong. You could make an argument for 'radio dark', but that's even more unclear. There is a dark side of the moon, just as there is a dark side of the earth. They just move.

      You'd think that CNN would be making extra efforts, right now, to not be clowns...'far side', it's not complicated.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    4. Re: Dark side of the moon, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What % of the kids on /. got that? One of the best albums of all time...

    5. Re:Dark side of the moon, eh? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      No. The whole moon has been photographed in about comparable detail.

      It has now. Was it always so?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    6. Re:Dark side of the moon, eh? by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Do we still call it 'darkest Africa'?

      Scotland was once a blank spot on the map.

      Besides which, there is a 'dark side of the moon'. It's not always the same side, but it exists, using clear, non fake-news organization face saving, definitions.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    7. Re:Dark side of the moon, eh? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Do we still call it 'darkest Africa'?

      I do, and I suspect Paddington Bear does too.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    8. Re:Dark side of the moon, eh? by Jeremi · · Score: 1

      There is no dark side of the moon really.

      Surely they meant the inside. It's very dark in there.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    9. Re: Dark side of the moon, eh? by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      There is no dark side of the moon, really. Matter of fact, it's all dark.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    10. Re:Dark side of the moon, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You so smart...

  10. Don't pollute the Earth! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I joke that Trump did push the RED BUTTON and destroy the chinese rocketship.

    1. Re:Don't pollute the Earth! by Methadras · · Score: 1

      All your rockets are belong to us.

  11. Re:As Michael Jordan has said... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    lol, trust me, I'm no PRIZE here

    Finally, a post from APK we can all agree with.

  12. Re:Thank you, President Xi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But not a more bettered grammar, huh??

  13. Fake APK. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The real APK would have more bold text. The kind of sadass that impersonateS APK is pitiful.

  14. i'll fuck you up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    this is my last warning to you, next time there will be no talking.

    be ready.

  15. NSA tools? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Looks like the NSA is not just targeting North Korean launches.

    1. Re:NSA tools? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      The CIA has started new cults in China that weaken the best minds. A spreading internal brain drain that embraces meditation, exercises and morality.
      The engineering cadres are very susceptible to what the CIA's best anthropologists, psychologists and psychiatrist have created to totally distract from the formality of science and the secrecy of the mil.
      A type of faith based tune in, drop out US funded counterculture is been spread within the ranks of the best academics.
      Finding a morality that the communist party never had is very new, tempting and attractive to very smart people.
      Once practicing all the engineers want to do is relax, meditate, talk in groups and study theological questions.

      Faith becomes a drug.
      Work then becomes a distraction or chore that has to be done. The uniform becomes restrictive in many different ways. Orders become suggestions to be discussed or questioned openly.
      The party and rocket work is something that is very external to the new found faith.
      The day job and its good food, good housing, good education, better health care, holidays, party membership holds no value as the most skilled people slip into their own hidden world of faith.
      The CIA gets smart people interesting in faith.
      The NSA tracks their smart phones at meetings and then all the way back to work.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  16. Painful, sure. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But they'll live.

  17. I'm pretty shocked. by Nutria · · Score: 1

    first Chinese launcher to fully use liquid propellant.

    China (and seemingly India, though wikipedia's usage of "booster" and "second stage" without a first stage confuses me, since I expect SRBs to be strapped next to a liquid propellant first stage) still use solid motor rockets for their first stages???

    --
    "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    1. Re:I'm pretty shocked. by cheesybagel · · Score: 2

      The CZ-5 uses LOX/Kerosene in the first stage. AFAIK most older Chinese rockets use liquid hypergolic propellants in the first stages. With the exception of Long March 3 and KT-1 which use solids.

    2. Re:I'm pretty shocked. by cheesybagel · · Score: 1

      Scratch that. Long March 3 also uses hypergolics. It's just KT-1 and Long March 11 which use solids.

    3. Re:I'm pretty shocked. by sl3xd · · Score: 1

      The Soyuz rocket discards liquid boosters.

      It's just the classic trade off of cost vs capability. Solid boosters have traditionally been much cheaper, and have a very good record for reliability.

      (Yes, yes, the shuttle SRB's failed when launched in conditions way outside of their design limits... and the same will happen if you abuse a liquid booster as badly)

      --
      -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
    4. Re:I'm pretty shocked. by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      USSR had a serious problem with solid fuel chemistry so they used liquid fuel even in their ICBMs. That made their submarines so huge.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    5. Re:I'm pretty shocked. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      It really depends on the nation, its mil and what it could design or what tech it could buy in from another nation.
      So the dual use science for rockets in many nations tracked their sat and mil thinking.
      What a rocket that can be launched quickly with the payload been kept safe? i.e. first strike?
      Any low cost rocket that can be launched with a good payload? Just enough for a low cost nuclear deterrent?
      A rocket that is ready or that needed some time to get ready. The leadership has to be aware of a rockets limitations.

      Got a lot of money to spend, a big secret test range and the best engineers? If so a lot of different things can be attempted or designs changed over the decades.
      If not your suck with a few really expensive designs or have to import a working rocket from another nation due to a lack of skills. Metallurgy is difficult and only a few really smart nations kept that skill fully funded every decade.
      Different nations also have different production lines so their own staff have to be able to keep up with new tech.
      Importing tech is really bad as more skills are lost. Having any tech that works most of the time brings in commercial interest.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    6. Re:I'm pretty shocked. by mcswell · · Score: 1

      Hmm, what's your first language? Chinese maybe?

  18. China's Rocket GOES BLACK after Liftoff by o_ferguson · · Score: 1

    ftfy

    --
    - In Soviet Korea, only old people loose all their bases to Natalie Portman's petrified hot grits overlords.
    1. Re:China's Rocket GOES BLACK after Liftoff by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      so.... its never going back?

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    2. Re:China's Rocket GOES BLACK after Liftoff by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      The East is Red

    3. Re:China's Rocket GOES BLACK after Liftoff by oobayly · · Score: 1

      That's how you do real propaganda - none of that 140 characters or less shite.

    4. Re:China's Rocket GOES BLACK after Liftoff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can't hide anything going to space. If the rocket was not destroyed, plenty of governments would be tracking whatever went to orbit.

  19. They need help by lucm · · Score: 1

    Maybe they could hire the engineers of Troposphere V.

    https://youtu.be/bF55DtTx458?t...

    --
    lucm, indeed.
  20. failure in orbit? by v1 · · Score: 2

    I assume the malfunction failed to get it into the correct orbital profile, since the limited videos available all look okay? (no kaboom) Or does someone have a more informative video?

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    1. Re:failure in orbit? by dlapine · · Score: 5, Informative

      There's some reasonable, in-depth analysis on the failure here: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42798.200. Be warned, if you like rockets and spaceflight, going to that site will cost you time.

      Summary: The first stage/boosters failed to generate enough thrust to achieve the proper staging point, as shown by the planned plot on the broadcast and the actual track. Some speculation points at a failure of one the boosters during the initial flight phase (before the boosters separate). The second stage separated and fired considerably later than planned and at some point, the mission was declared to be unsuccessful, due to flight anomalies.

      Politics aside, please note that the open broadcast of the launch is what enables this informed discussion, and for that, us space geeks can appreciate the access granted by the Chinese Space Agency to the live broadcast.

      Opinion: this was not helpful for the Chinese launch program, but at least the vehicle didn't RUD (rapid unplanned disassembly). Analysis of the telemetry will assist them in determining the cause, and may help them to engineer a fix. It's still a setback to their heavy lift ambitions for this year.

      --
      The Internet has no garbage collection
    2. Re:failure in orbit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is all amateur bullshit.
      Wait until slashdot user Rei finish swallowing Elon Musk sperm blast for the definitive ANAL(ysis).

    3. Re:failure in orbit? by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      You are a bad person.....
      You just ruined my evening.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    4. Re:failure in orbit? by v1 · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the info. Yep, they don't call it "rocket science" for nothing. Heard put another way, "Getting to space is EASY. Staying in space is hard." Getting enough angular orbital speed going and in the orientation you want it is the biggest challenge.

      Due to no RUD they should have been able to downlink all the data they need to fully identify the issue and fix it in the next go-round though. Not having to collect debris scattered across thousands of miles and reassemble the bits in a large hanger for forensics is a big help.

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  21. Re:Thank you, President Xi by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    But not a more bettered grammar, huh??

    I got to support all the budding grammar nazis on Slashdot.

  22. LEMME GUESS: MADE IN CHINA !! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So if it didn't then THAT would be amazing !! Oh, well, they can just cobble another for a few bucks with the cheapest of parts, and labor !! It's the china way !!

  23. Dark side of the moon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    China has announced plans to land a robotic probe on the dark side of the moon later this year

    Argh, not this again. Editors: do not confuse classic Pink Floyd album title with correct astronomical jargon. The "dark side" of the moon is its night side, which rotates around it just like on Earth (albeit much more slowly). The phrase you're looking for is the "far side."

    1. Re:Dark side of the moon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Argh, not this again. Pedants: please stop trying to correct the usage of term 'dark' when you know full well it can also mean 'unknown', 'unexplored', 'mysterious' etc. While the far side of the moon is no longer totally unknown, it is certainly far less studied than the near side, and the fact remains that our ability to know anything about it at all spans just the barest sliver of all of human history. So please stop trying to correct this 'mistake'. It serves no purpose and just annoys the rest of us trying to get on with our lives.

  24. That's right, BUT? apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: "I'm back on the ROAD again" (bye, bye, baby...) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1kuqMath3g/ - the RIGHT road & my personal results bear it out, right for me...

    * Thus, per the tune? "It's time I leave you now..."

    APK

    P.S.=> Having TOO good of a day tipping a few w/ pals & "tuning in" to a LONG lost love of mine - music (I let it go, w/ women & partying, TV (lots more) decades ago in pursuit of my present, now - rediscovering it again! Why? I've had the GRACE of GOD shed on me I feel (that I don't deserve in some capacities imo) & got lucky enough to ENJOY life again, essentially retiring a decade++ ago (w/ help of great people around me & God too)).

    So, in the spirit of our nation's MAIN holiday imo (the 4th, about FREEDOM & acquiring it as much as you can)?

    Hey - I wish you the same, despite your trolling - it's ALL about "getting wise" & it takes time (for some of us, MYSELF included (took too f'ing long - most of my pals are heads of MAJOR corporations etc. but this is good enough for me))... apk

  25. HAHAHAHAHA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    THEY CANT BUILD SHIT!!

    1. Re:HAHAHAHAHA by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      They make really nice Rolexes.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  26. Re:Thank you, President Xi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And I guess your ebooks are for the rest of the world? Although I did read (for free) your "best coffee in the world" story. It was almost something.

  27. "State-run" by kelanos · · Score: 3, Funny

    the state-run Xinhua news agency

    funny how you never hear:

    the state-run BBC news agency

    so very funny

    1. Re:"State-run" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep - just like our state run 'great firewall' and the state run censors blocking freedom of speech and imprisoning people

      fuckwit.

    2. Re:"State-run" by LostInTaiwan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's not so funny when the government locks you up because you criticize the validity of an Xinhua article. That is the everyday reality faced by Chinese residents and that is the biggest difference between the state-run Xinhua and the state-funded BBC.

    3. Re:"State-run" by chispito · · Score: 2, Informative

      the state-run Xinhua news agency

      funny how you never hear:

      the state-run BBC news agency

      so very funny

      Just because it's a national broadcasting company doesn't mean it's state-run. You say "state run" when you're referring to the Chinese news in this case because the government gets editorial power. That's nothing at all like the BBC.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    4. Re:"State-run" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's well-known, and well-documented, that the state of China censors media, and the state of Great Britain does not.

    5. Re:"State-run" by Ryanrule · · Score: 3, Informative

      The BBC is state funded, not state run.

    6. Re:"State-run" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The BBC is state funded, not state run.

      The person that pays the bills calls the shots intentionally or not.

    7. Re:"State-run" by kelanos · · Score: 1

      Yes, it does.

      And anyway, however you want to cut it, most of the government and the media are essentially the same entity here. Democrats = media, at any rate, that can't be argued against sanely.

    8. Re:"State-run" by kelanos · · Score: 1, Funny

      Xinhua is state funded, not state run.

    9. Re: "State-run" by jabuzz · · Score: 4, Informative

      Classic nonsense from the ignorant. The BBC is not state funded. It has a Royal Charter to operate and is funded by a license fee which is collected entirely separate from taxes. That is it goes nowhere near the general consolidated fund and if you dont known what that is you don't know what you are talking about. Her Majesty's government only gets involved in renewing the Royal Charter and in setting the licence fee. It is neither state run or state funded, with every government in my living memory complaing it is biased against them, which is a pretty good indication to me that it's not actually biased at all.

    10. Re:"State-run" by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      Only about 80 percent of the news organizations are actually run by the DNC. Many are still independent. They're working on it though.

    11. Re: "State-run" by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      Who collects that fee? The State?

    12. Re: "State-run" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Classic nonsense from the ignorant. The BBC is not state funded. It has a Royal Charter to operate and is funded by a license fee which is collected entirely separate from taxes. That is it goes nowhere near the general consolidated fund and if you dont known what that is you don't know what you are talking about.

      Bold for projection emphasis.

      Although the money is raised for its own use, the BBC does not directly use the collected fees. The money received is first paid into the Government's Consolidated Fund.

      Source.

      every government in my living memory complaing [sic] it is biased against them, which is a pretty good indication to me that it's not actually biased at all.

      Why would anyone listen to "classic nonsense from the ignorant" who "don't know what [they] are talking about"?

      Apparently whomever modded you up for inaccurate information.

    13. Re: "State-run" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shut the fuck up you dumb fucking faggot.

    14. Re: "State-run" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jesus Christ blatant and easily refuted misinformation combined with ad hominem, not even amusing insults, has been modded to +5 informative.

      What is the point of a news site that favors lies? What is the point of a discussion medium that values ignorance and insults?

      The slashdot moderation system has failed.

      Goodbye slashdot, after nearly 20 years of reading and posting, the ride down to irrelevancy has gotten to low in the sow trough for me.

    15. Re: "State-run" by stoatwblr · · Score: 1

      The BBC does - via a wholly owned private limited company (TV Licensing Limited), which contracts out actual collections and enforcement to Capita.

      Surprisingly (considering Capita is involved) there's a fairly high compliance level and the collection process is reputed to be relatively efficient - that doesn't stop them sending endless demands to people who already have licenses, etc.

    16. Re:"State-run" by stoatwblr · · Score: 1

      If you can be jailed for criticising its stories, then it's state-run.

    17. Re:"State-run" by kelanos · · Score: 1

      If you can be ostracized from society for criticizing its stories, then it's state run, and your state has rampaged through all boundaries seizing everything, in which case, you probably don't have a 'state' per se, you have a shell controlled by a small 'interest group'.

      Did I ever say Xinhua wasn't state run??

      Also do you actually know what you're talking about? Are there examples of this?

      And obviously you have no point, a news outlet can be state run without such overt acts.
      At very least the Chinese are honest about their thought policing. Seems like a plus to what we have.

      In our society, most people who have valid criticism just end up reproaching themselves and honestly abandoning their notions, maybe even labeling themselves as "crazy".

      At least in China things are more straightforward and less totally fucking insane.

  28. Re:Thank you, President Xi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's the next one gonna be called? The Creimer 6?

    That would implied a more muscular rocket design. :P

    Only in the right hand.

  29. Re:Thank you, President Xi by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    Although I did read (for free) your "best coffee in the world" story. It was almost something.

    That short story first appeared in The MacGuffin in Fall 2009. Until the story got accepted, I wasn't even aware that I wrote a MacGuffin story.

  30. "Bold & the strong"... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks but the GREAT band Journey says it better than I can (way over 1/2 century here now) "Onlly the Young" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jifOSQAI0G8

    * :)

    (What I said was told to ME by my seniors, LONG ago... I am merely "paying it forward" is all - & yes, it works!)

    APK

    P.S.=> Good luck... apk

  31. Re:Keep Chinks Off the Moon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow. Somebody needs a hug ...

  32. Failure due to wrong orbit or crash? by lkroll4565 · · Score: 1

    Still haven't heard what the issue was that defined the launch a failure. :)

    1. Re:Failure due to wrong orbit or crash? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      see https://science.slashdot.org/c...

  33. Outside interference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    when Chinese and Russian rockets start failing at a suspicious rate, the only sensible explanation is sabotage.

  34. Re:Thank you, President Xi by Methadras · · Score: 1

    Covfefe 7

  35. Why is there not a video of the launch? by Spy+Handler · · Score: 1

    Did the communist party ban all news outlets from viewing the launch? Confiscate cell phones from people in the area?

    Otherwise it's hard to imagine how they launched such a big expensive rocket and not one person recorded it.

  36. Elon knows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He knows how painful it is ...