Hmmm...I think the fundamental premise of this article is all wrong:
Posted on 10/25/2008 11:37:12 AM PDT by Flavius
In late September, China's third manned space mission went off without a hitch. The Shenzhou-7 is now safely in orbit. Close by is the BX-1 "companion satellite" which was attached to Shenzhou-7 and later deployed via a simple spring mechanism. This satellite weighs between 30 and 40 kilograms, and it simply orbits around Shenzhou-7, sending back over a thousand images of Shenzhou-7 in the process.
While Western space experts may be divided over the exact purpose of the BX-1 mission, it is clear that China has every intention of driving its dynamic "dual use" space agenda as far as it will go. BX-1 could well be little more than a peaceful probe merely engaged in "close proximity" operations with cameras and transmission equipment aboard. Or it could be a prototype satellite attack dog, a space surveillance and Space Situational Awareness (SSA) platform with anti-satellite (ASAT) capabilities, all rolled into a single menacing platform ready to pounce.
(Excerpt) Read more at atimes.com ...
..thank you Rapist clinton
All the corporations that sent dual use manufacturing/electrical capabilities should get a medal i suppose.
Or where the stock options compensations enough.
N.A.S.A. has failed to do its job.
We are left with NO heavy lift vehicle after the shuttle fleet is mothballed very shortly.
40 years ago we led the world in space. What has happened since?
We’ve spent a whole lot of billions and many of the promises have been left unfulfilled.
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Hmmm...I think the fundamental premise of this article is all wrong:
If this was 1968, not 2008, then yes, China would have a jump.
Self congatulatory article.
Leftist presidents: the gift that keeps on giving.
Obama is going to gut the US space industry. Not enough voters in comparison to increasing welfare.
SHOCKED just SHOCKED that China would dare use the technology Clinton gave them. This is SHOCKING!
They got the jump on us? How’s that, exactly? We made it to the moon 40 years ago.
ping
Now, whose footprints are on the moon?
In China, space museums have been set up where families come and visit. Much like America's Smithsonian Institute. And there's even display of America's early space exploration. People in China are excited and proud of what they are doing much the same way America was excited about the early Appolo missions.
China's astronauts are treated like celebrities there and given the same status as Neil Armstrong and John Glen was given in America.
And many Chinese are hurt by the fact that some Americans see such a national treasure treated like a rogue activity.
But for me (and I'm just speaking for myself), the thing that perplexes me the most, is that many on the FR are more concerned about China putting men into space than the current battery of Russian ICBM's that exists today. The cold war may be over, but I had never stopped worrying about all those ICBM's over there in Russia.
That is what I find most perplexing.
That satellite, like all satellites, orbits around Earth not around some other spacecraft. It may orbit near Shenzhou-7 but it does not orbit around it.
Stupid journalists.
American astronauts, last I checked. So how did China get a jump on us?
Exactly...we’ve been to outer space for the past 40 years. Big deal.
This is like China proclaiming they discovered wi-fi in 2008.
The Chinese say they plan to have a base on the moon by 2020.
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