China's spacecraft orbit 'slips' (Made in China)

The Drudge Report ^ | 10/13/05 | BBC News

[SeniorMoment]

Makes you wonder if the cheap labor assembly line put this tin can together. Whoooo!

"Pigs In Space"

[BenLurkin]

Give us a hint.

[SeniorMoment]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4340102.stm

[SeniorMoment]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4340102.stm

[SeniorMoment]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4340102.stm

[BenLurkin]

Here goes:

China's Shenzhou VI spacecraft is not orbiting exactly as planned and will have to be restored to its original trajectory, state-run media say.
The "orbit maintenance operation" would take place early on Friday morning, said official news agency Xinhua.

Gravity has drawn Shenzhou VI too close to earth, the agency said.

Shenzhou VI, which has two astronauts on board, is in a low enough orbit to be affected by the Earth's gravitational pull.

It spent a second day in orbit on Thursday, making it China's longest manned space flight.

Xinhua quoted experts as saying the procedure to fix craft's orbit would be a "normal technical operation".

Nonetheless, the agency said, experts were urging all scientific and technological staff to be "cautious".


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4340102.stm

[SeniorMoment]

Sorry about that. I forgot to add the link.

[BenLurkin]

All's well that ends well.

Not sure this kind of orbital deviation is that remarkable -- especially for a fledgling space program.

On the other hand I don't trust the Red Chinese to be truthful about any problems they may be experiencing either.

[pipecorp]

The skylab is falling! The skylab is falling!

[Right Wing Assault]

Shenzhou VI, which has two astronauts on board, is in a low enough orbit to be affected by the Earth's gravitational pull.

If this is how China 'understands' orbital mechanics, they will never reach the moon. Maybe this is just a bad translation or a popularized version. Or maybe it is the morons at the BBC interjecting their typical errors.

Even the moon, a quarter million miles away, "is in a low enough orbit to be affected by the Earth's gravitational pull".

What they should have said is that the satellite is being affected too much by the earth's thin atmosphere.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Last year the US graduated 73,000 engineers, China graduated over 370,000. I would not become to complacent in your smugness.

I can recall when all the talk was about Japs couldn't see, they could never fly planes, wouldn't and couldn't fight, etc, etc, etc et al. Took Pearl Harbor and four years of hard fighting to dispel that little myth.

I can recall talk that Japs could only build cheap toys and cameras from C-rat cans. How many cars in the US are built in Jap owned plants, how many Jap vehicles are sold in the US?

It is better to overestimate, than underestimate your adversary.

[beebuster2000]

I wouldnt think we should be so smug given the last NASA launch

[Right Wing Assault]

Or the last EU/Russian launch?

Not being smug. Just pointing out that someone (China, BBC?) didn't know how to explain the problem. Probably PR types.

[dr_who_2]

From the BBC story:

Shenzhou VI, which has two astronauts on board, is in a low enough orbit to be affected by the Earth's gravitational pull.

I'm no fan of NASA these days, but our rocket scientists are no doubt better than Chinese rocket scientists or British journalists. And I mean it.

[Petronski]

Shenzhou VI, which has two astronauts on board, is in a low enough orbit to be affected by the Earth's gravitational pull.

LOL

It better be! No gravitational pull means no orbit.

Sheesh.

[dr_who_2]

Fair enough. There haven't been any countries who ran their own manned space program who haven't had some big slip ups. On the other hand, if the Chinese do manage to correct the orbit of their ship and come up with some mind-boggling publicity stunt to do up in space in order to grab the world's attention, I really hope that politicians and voters back home don't go nutty and demand that we "reform" our math curriculum again. That would be counterproductive, too. Math is an important subject. In this day and age, not everyone can be a factory worker, professional athlete, or journalist.

[Petey139]

I hope the shuttle crashes in mecca, With pig sperm in the shuttle imagine it being spilled on the soil soiling mecca with sacred substances.