Space Ping! If you want on or off this list please Freepmail me.
Posted on 10/11/2005 7:06:39 PM PDT by Rebelbase
China launched its second manned space mission, sending two astronauts into orbit as it opened a new chapter in its ambitious drive to become a global space power.
Shenzhou VI, based on Soviet Soyuz technology, lifted off on a Long March 2F carrier rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 9 am (0100 GMT) for a five-day mission carrying air force pilots Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng.
It entered a fixed orbit 21 minutes later.
Having two crew on board is a departure from October 2003, when Yang Liwei spent 21 hours on a solo odyssey -- a mission that made China only the third country after the United States and former Soviet Union to achieve the feat.
Some 40 seconds after Wednesday's launch the craft disappeared into the clouds, but a camera on board showed Nie waving as the launch centre said lift off and all signals were "normal".
"I feel good," said Fei in his first tranmission from the craft.
Fei, 40, and Nie, 41, were seen off by Premier Wen Jiabao, who was at the launch pad to drum up nationalistic sentiment, saying he believed "the astronauts will accomplish the glorious and sacred mission".
"You will once again show that the Chinese people have the will, confidence and capability to mount scientific peaks ceaselessly," Wen said, adding that the whole country expects "their victorious return from the mission."
Other top leaders including President Hu Jintao and and Vice President Zeng Qinglong watched the event at the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Centre, Chinese mission control.
Snow was falling at the launch site shortly before lift off but stopped at about the time the astronauts entered their craft, Xinhua news agency reported.
The fact that Wednesday's mission carried two astronauts reflects the twin purposes of China's space program, which aims for both scientific gains and kudos at home and abroad.
"Part of it is technical. If you are two people, you can do more complicated and more sophisticated types of work and experimentation," said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on China's space program at the US Naval War College.
"Part of its also too is prestige. Two people is harder than one person," she said.
Shenzhou VI is expected to circle around the Earth for the next 119 hours, or nearly five days, before landing in the Inner Mongolian grasslands.
The craft is based on the robust and thoroughly tested Soviet design for the Soyuz vessel, and consists of three modules.
These include the orbital module where scientific experiments are carried out; the re-entry capsule where the astronauts will spend most of their time; and the service module, which contains fuel and air, solar panels and other technical gear.
Unlike Yang Liwei two years ago, the two astronauts will leave their capsule for lengthy experiments in the orbital module at the nose of the spacecraft, observers said.
"They'll do quite a lot of medical tests, they'll take blood tests, urine tests, and they will also work out what kind of space food works for them" said Brian Harvey, the Dublin-based author of a book on China's space ambitions.
"Because ultimately what they are planning is a space station... and to do that they will need to learn how do they survive on longer missions."
The flight of Shenzhou VI will also be a thorough and comprehensive test of China's tracking network, which includes tracking stations as far away as Namibia and four tracking ships placed around the oceans of the world.
In Jiuquan city, several hours' drive away from the satellite launch center, a sense of local pride was clearly visible.
"Wishing a successful launch of Shenzhou VI," said a large red poster in front of one of the city's hotels, while billboards advertised special "Shenzhou Rice Wine."
"We're very happy about all this," said Ma Li, a teenage resident of Jiuquan city. "It's amazing that we Chinese gradually have the know-how to pull this kind of thing off," she said
I wonder how much of that 'know-how' came 'gradually' from out dear president Bubba.
Those are very fashionable spacesuits! (snicker, snicker)
Well good for them. I'm glad to see at least some nation is making some steps towards manned exploration. Maybe our own will get a kick in the pants.
"Maybe our own will get a kick in the pants."
It would be nice to see but our own flat earth society opposes it and the democrats will oppose simply due to the fact that there's a republican in office.
 |
By STEPHANIE HOO
Associated Press Writer
JIAYUGUAN, China
Two years after China became only the third nation to launch a human into orbit, a pair of astronauts blasted off Wednesday on a longer, riskier mission after receiving a farewell visit from Premier Wen Jiabao.
Wen said the "glorious and sacred mission" would demonstrate China's national confidence and ability.
A rocket carrying the Shenzhou 6 capsule and the astronauts blasted off Wednesday from the remote base in China's northwest. In a break with the space agency's typical secrecy, the launch was shown live on Chinese state television.
The mission, reportedly due to last up to five days, is a key prestige project for China's communist leaders, who have justified the expense of a manned space program by saying that it will drive economic development. It will be more complicated than the first flight in which carried one astronaut and lasted just 21 1/2 hours.
Minutes after liftoff, mission control announced that the first stage booster had successfully separated from the rocket and that the flight had entered its preset orbit.
The official Xinhua News Agency said the two astronauts, or "taikonauts," will take off their 22-pound spacesuits to travel back and forth between the two halves of their vessel _ a re-entry capsule and an orbiter that will stay aloft after they land.
Earlier in the day, Xinhua announced the identities of the two taikonauts _ Fei Junlong, 40, and Nie Haishen, 41. Previous reports said 14 former fighter pilots were training for the mission.
Images of Fei and Jun in their cockpit as the craft roared toward orbit were broadcast live to hundreds of millions of Chinese television viewers. None of the 2003 space flight was shown live by Chinese television.
"Feeling pretty good," Fei said in the first broadcast comment from the astronauts.
Xinhua said the crew was picked from a field of six finalists. Nie was one of three finalists for the 2003 mission, which made a national hero of Yang Liwei.
The two taikonauts will conduct experiments in orbit, Xinhua said without elaborating.
China, the third nation to put a man into orbit, insisted ahead of the launch that its aspirations in space were strictly peaceful and that it opposes deploying weapons there. Space officials say they hope to land an unmanned probe on the moon by 2010 and launch a space station.
"We do not wish to see any form of weapons in outer space, so we reaffirm that our space flight program is an important element of mankind's peaceful utilization of outer space," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said.
Foreign reporters were barred from the launch base. The handful of Chinese journalists allowed to attend the liftoff were warned they might be ordered to hand over any photos or video _ a possible image- control measure in case of an accident.
The Shenzhou _ or Divine Vessel _ capsule is based on Russia's three- seat Soyuz, though with extensive modifications. Spacesuits, life- support systems and other equipment are based on technology purchased from Russia.
But space officials say all equipment launched into orbit is Chinese- made.
China has had a rocketry program since the 1950s and fired its first satellite into orbit in 1970. It regularly launches satellites for foreign clients aboard its giant Long March boosters.
___
Associated Press reporter Alexa Olesen in Beijing contributed to this report.
The consequence of such actions will leave us looking down the barrel of a gun and wondering why we did "nothing" to counteract it.
I hate to think what the world will be like when China is able to target us from space and we're unable to protect ourselves from it. Then there's the technology they'll develop simply by being in space.
A response I wrote to a fellow believer in government funded space exploration:
I'm sorry they won't get it until China is standing on the Moon or on asteroids and launching well aimed rocks down on us and then their bleating will be heard, "Oh why, Ohh how did this happen, how is it now that the greatest nation on this Earth is now going to be destroyed in the next 15 min and the Government can't do anything about it."
If they think China isn't seeing space as the ultimate weapon’s platform and that any UN declaration is going to stop them they are so far gone there is no hope for them.
Our industry will not go there because there is no profit in it, yet, except for LEO. China on the other hand doesn’t need profit for it to make sense. China sees space as their ultimate defense plan, and we are just plain stupid if we don't see that. Nobody inspects China's rockets for weapons or asks them what their projects are for weapons platforms, why ask anyway, they'd just lie.
U.S. industry couldn't develop space based weapons on their own if they tried, some leftist freak would scream bloody murder, and again there is no profit in it.
If we cede the high ground to other nations then it's our own stupid fault when we are looking down the barrel of a gun. Imagine if Japan had developed the ICBM before us and what the world could have looked like.
Don't we have some kind of laser or something that will shoot this chi-com crap out of space?????????
No we don't, no one has yet developed a ground based laser capable of taking out LEO objects.
We are currently working on an airborne platform that may be able to to take out missiles in their boost phase, but that has not yet been tested.
We currently have a system which we are trying to make mobile that can theoretically take out "Scuds" but has yet to be tested under real world circumstances.
Chopsticks and lice no wok so good in zero gravity, comerade.
Don't forget about the Saganites...
LOL.
"two people is harder than one person."
Whoop -di -doo.
Welcome to 1965!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.