Posted on 10/17/2005 3:38:27 PM PDT by AmericanDave
Photo taken on Oct. 17, 2005 shows the re-entry capsule of China's second manned spacecraft, Shenzhou-6, at its landing site in Siziwang Banner (County), north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The re-entry capsule of the Shenzhou-6 sapcecraft, which blasted off on Oct. 12 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province, touched down at the landing site in Siziwang Banner, at 4:33 am Oct. 17 (2033 GMT) following a five-day mission.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.xinhuanet.com ...
They all ready are 36 years behind and the race is over.
China should try to invent the wheel while they are at it.
40+ years late...
Until they have a base on the Moon and we dont.
I dont want to sleep by the light of a communist Moon!
we haven't really done much in the last thirty years, and the chinee *actually have* a cheap and it would appear fairly reliable vehicle for getting astronauts up into space, and we certainly do not...
I remember when Japanese cars were a joke. They're not a joke anymore. Quite to the contrary, they are the standard of the industry and have forced their rivals to get off their complacent butts and compete to survive. It will be the same with space exploration. I welcome the competition.
I agree with you completely. This is actually a good thing. There was a time when the Soviet Union propelled us along the way. Now, apparently, it will be the Chinese. I, as you, welcome the competition. To do otherwise is folly.
billyblytheclinton caught 'em up pretty quickly.
And if we return to the Moon you can say we really haven't done much in forty years, at least when it comes to manned space exploration. Unmanned exploration is a different story. We have space telescopes, rovers, landers, and even impacts into comets. We are way ahead of China and Russia in those areas, and IMO that's the area that counts.
China is doing this for national prestige and to inspire their citizens. It's not a threat to us. Their rocket is Chinese, but the capsule was purchased from Russia.
Great minds think alike.
Give them a 35 year head start just to make it interesting.
"the re-entry capsule of China's second manned spacecraft, Shenzhou-6"
What happened to Models 1,2,3,4 and 5?
Until the Chinese astronauts learn they can change their underwear more than once in a week, they will remain forever......BEHIND.
That's not a photo!
it was a really sad - the last moon landings were taking place and the american public was too bored to pay attention...
the problem is that a vibrant space program from china, if coupled with a weak one from us, will reinforce the impression that the US is an aging tiger and its allies in Asia will fall into the orbit of an increasingly powerful military, economic and technological china. we need something that will knock their socks off - robot missions to Mars or comets won't hack it. we need to land people on mars, and we need to do it first, and we got to get moving or the chinese will surprise us with a low-ball, risky mission that actually succeeds...
i think china entering the race is the best thing that could happen to NASA since it may break the sclerotic mindset of making everything gold plated.
the old answer was that "gold plated is safer" which translates to "more complicated is safer", which i don't buy into. to me, smarter is safer and smarter may or may not be associated with more expensive, as rutan has shown.
i am delighted that the chinese are in the race and maybe this is the IGY like scare that we need to get back into the game...
as for satellites and unmanned, NASA gets good marks, but not excellent ones (sort a a U shaped curve with the low points during the clinton years, and excellent marks for the rovers)
Well, the Chinese caption does say "simulation drawing" IIRC, the capsule actually came down at night in pitch darkness, so wasn't much to see.
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.