Posted on 03/01/2009 7:02:17 AM PST by KevinDavis
BEIJING (AFP) – China will launch a space module next year and carry out the nation's first space docking in 2011 as a step towards its goal of building a space station, state media said Sunday.
The Tiangong-1, or "Heavenly Palace-1" is scheduled for launch in late 2010 and will dock with a Shenzhou-8 spacecraft early the following year, Xinhua news agency said, citing officials with China's space programme.
"The module, named Tiangong-1, is designed to provide a 'safe room' for Chinese astronauts to live and conduct scientific research in zero gravity," the report said.
"Weighing about 8.5 tonnes, Tiangong-1 is able to perform long-term unattended operation, which will be an essential step toward building a space station."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
By 2040 the dominant language on the Moon may be Chinese.
People delibrately choose to be blind.
What was the gap when Europe caught up with China on gun powder?
Let there be a lesson in that.
You may be right..
GOLDEN, Colorado — A just-released Pentagon report spotlights a growing U.S. military concern that China is developing a multi- dimensional program to limit or prevent the use of space-based assets by its potential adversaries during times of crisis or conflict.
Furthermore, last year's successful test by China of a direct-ascent, anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon to destroy its own defunct weather satellite, the report adds, underscores that country's expansion from the land, air, and sea dimensions of the traditional battlefield into the space and cyber-space domains.
Although China's commercial space program has utility for non- military research, that capability demonstrates space launch and control know-how that have direct military application. Even the Chang'e 1 — the Chinese lunar probe now circling the Moon — is flagged in the report as showcasing China's ability "to conduct complicated space maneuvers — a capability which has broad implications for military counterspace operations."
To read the entire publication [29.67MB/pdf], go to (U.S. Dept of Defense) :
http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pdfs/China_Military_Report_08.pdf
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From the Sino-Russian Joint Statement of April 23, 1997:
"The two sides [China and Russia] shall, in the spirit of partnership, strive to promote the multipolarization of the world and the establishment of a new international order."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HI29Ag01.html
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Russia, China flex muscles in joint war games
Reuters: Aug 17, 2007
CHEBARKUL, Russia (Reuters) - Russia and China staged their biggest joint exercises on Friday but denied this show of military prowess could lead to the formation of a counterweight to NATO.
"Today's exercises are another step towards strengthening the relations between our countries, a step towards strengthening international peace and security, and first and foremost, the security of our peoples," Putin said.
Fighter jets swooped overhead, commandos jumped from helicopters on to rooftops and the boom of artillery shells shook the firing range in Russia's Ural mountains as two of the largest armies in the world were put through their paces.
The exercises take place against a backdrop of mounting rivalry between the West, and Russia and China for influence over Central Asia, a strategic region that has huge oil, gas and mineral resources.
Russia's growing assertiveness is also causing jitters in the West. Putin announced at the firing range that Russia was resuming Soviet-era sorties by its strategic bomber aircraft near NATO airspace.
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-29030120070817?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
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From National Public Radio (NPR):
August 29, 2006
"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been visiting countries such as China, Iran and Russia as part of an effort to build a 'strategic alliance' of interests not beholden to the United States. He considers the United States his arch enemy.":
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5729764
But a look at the crash-test videos, the continual poisoning of their customers by every means available, and the experience of anybody that's ever bought a tool made in China, does.
The Chinese Army already docked with the Clintons.
Ah there you go, anthropomorphizing an entire nation of more than a billion.
Has it ever occurred to you that the hands that build the bombs, missiles and rockets might not be the same as the ones that made your toothbrush?
Nope, 'cuz I've worked with two different electronics manufacturers, in China. They'll never put a man in space and bring him back alive.
It will probably take them long.
They did...
I believe they have already sent a man up into space, and brought him back.
In a closed country like China, that would in no way be indicative of their military factories. They have different priorities, different management, different aims, and different ideologies.
Well hush my mouth, that pre-Olympics spacewalk, that’s right. I had completely forgotten about that.
I recall dismissing it at the time because they mistakenly published the gushing interview with the spacewalker before the spacewalk actually happened, possibly even before the launch.
Weren’t there two missions? One was a capsule that took two people into space, and returned with no spacewalk.
The second one was the Olympic incident you speak of. Was it debunked?
There are way too many results for “chinese space walk fake” via google
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=chinese+space+walk+fake&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=
to deal with here, but the very first one is from Discover magazine
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/10/08/did-the-chinese-fake-their-space-walk/
where the guy says it was real...and then of course there are a million “yes but” rebuttals immediately following from the peanut gallery.
Here’s an article about what I mentioned earlier: the “interview” with the orbiting astronauts that made it to the web site before they actually launched.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4826302.ece
Ok that’s enough from me on this, I don’t want to steer the thread into a “was it fake?” flame war.
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