Posted on 06/16/2012 9:46:13 AM PDT by JerseyanExile
China has launched its latest manned space mission - whose crew includes its first female astronaut, Liu Yang.
The Shenzhou-9 capsule rode to orbit atop a Long March rocket from the Jiuquan spaceport on the edge of the Gobi desert.
Ms Liu and her two male colleagues are heading to the Tiangong space lab.
They will spend over a week living and working on the 335km-high vessel, testing new systems and conducting a number of scientific experiments.
Before leaving, the crew were presented to Communist Party officials, VIPs and the media.
Wearing their flight suits and sitting behind glass, they waved and smiled.
"We will obey orders, listen to directions and be calm; and co-ordinate together to successfully complete China's first manned rendezvous and docking mission," said Commander Jing Haipeng.
China's top legislator, Wu Bangguo, wished them well and told them: "We are expecting your safe return."
The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft lifted off on schedule at 18:37 local time (10:37 GMT; 11:37 BST).
All systems appeared to function normally and eight minutes later, the spacecraft had entered orbit. Very shortly after Shenzhou-9 had unfurled its solar panels.
It will take a couple of days to reach Tiangong. A docking is planned for Monday at 15:00 Beijing time (07:00 GMT; 08:00 BST).
Mr Jing, 46, is making his second spaceflight after participating in the Shenzhou-7 outing in 2008 - the mission that included China's first spacewalk.
His flight engineers are both first-timers, however.
Liu Wang, 42, a People's Liberation Army fighter pilot, has got his chance after spending 14 years in the China National Space Administration's astronaut corps.
Thirty-three-year-old Liu Yang, also a fighter pilot, has on the other hand emerged as China's first woman astronaut after just two years of training.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
We should never have traded with China. It was pure evil to do so.
We have committed irreconcilable errors in dealing with it. We transmitted incredible amounts of industrial knowledge, technology, and manufacturing secrets. We can’t undo that.
What we can do is remove it’s income stream.
It is using that income stream to challenge other nations and us as well.
Manufacturing should return to the U. S. We need to employ our people. We need to allow them the satisfaction of earning a living from doing something productive. Making things with your own hands, or at least contributing to it, is important.
Service sector jobs will never be as worthy as working toward creating something.
Giving a nation that will run tanks over it’s own people, an income stream to build up their military with, is IMO criminal in nature.
I think you’re looking at MADS here.. Mutually Assured Destruction of Satellites. Not that Obama would allow us to take one of theirs out if they dare take us on, but our little X37 Space plane could be offensively equipped with weapons and/or jammers if need be. ‘Killer satellites’ is a slippery slope but I’m sure Obama will do all he can to hogtie us while helping China. It’s all about ‘evening the playing field INTERNATIONALLY too, not just domestically. By the way, IMPEACH OBAMA FOR SABOTAGING AMERICA.
Make it profitable to make stuff here by buying it, while at the same time making it unprofitable to make stuff overseas by leaving it on the shelves, will go far in bringing jobs back here.
I agree. If we can possibly do without it, don’t buy a product that isn’t made in the U. S.
Count me on board.
I don’t think it matters if we destroy their satelliets. Besides, if they have a moon base, and we don’t then they have the literal high ground. But, our main advantage is technological and much of that is extremely dependant on satellites. If they can take out our satellites, their massive numbers begin to look much more formidable.
The Russians had the ability to "kill" our satellites over 30 years ago. It isn't difficult at all, comparatively speaking.
“Taste rike chikin!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBL98p0wZ7g
Fascinating!
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