Posted on 05/29/2003 3:07:05 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Edited on 07/12/2004 4:03:25 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Are the Chinese serious about human space flight? Most definitely. And they are interested in doing more than simply going to low Earth orbit. They are headed for the moon.
For most of last year, the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry looked at our nation's position relative to our global competition. Clearly, the Europeans are determined to challenge our preeminence in commercial aviation, and the challenge to our leadership in space is coming from the Pacific Rim.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
The Space Station "is" a Moon Station, AND a Mars Station, AND an "any other off-planet" destination station. Unless and until they come up with Arthur C. Clarke's "beanstalk" technology, a space station in LEO will ALWAYS be the necessary "first step" into space (and it is what we SHOULD have done in the original moon program instead of the "big, dumb booster" approach taken with the Saturn V, which was undertaken only to "beat the Russians", and not to take a rational approach to space entry).
You would not believe how boring astronauts can be...
You might pick up this week's Newsweek. (Has the Friends story on the cover)--all about men and the toys of their dreams. You might notice how little exploration, new knowledge, and science is involved in these rides.
The launch of the Pioneer I rocket on September 16 at north China's Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center makes China only the third country capable of developing such rockets, after the United States and Russia, a spokesman for China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) told Xinhua.
The rocket is capable of putting payloads of up to 100 kilograms (220 pounds) into orbit around the earth to help with resource exploration, environmental monitoring and surveys, the spokesman said.
The announcement comes just weeks ahead of China's planned manned space mission, which is widely expected to take place next month, based on media reports.
The Xinhua report did not say whether the rocket had any connection to the launching of space flights or whether it could launch satellites for military use.***
A lunar orbiter would be launched by rocket and reach the Moon in eight or nine days, the paper said. It would circle the Moon for a year, gathering information about the lunar geology, soil, environment and natural resources, it added. The BBC's correspondent in Beijing, Louisa Lim, says these comments are a sign that Chinese ambitions in space go far beyond a manned space flight. ***
Your command of the language; your knack of advancing a discussion just takes my breath away...
This issue of Newsweek involves a private effort to launch tourists into space via a "white knight". Not too different from the earliest test-pilot "right stuff" events.
All very cool--and the same magazine goes into the other millionaires' camping trips--undersea tourism ($40K/pop), renting Russian Migs--
Even an actual important story in small jet development--looks like there'll be a 5-passenger jet taxi in the next few years--at less than $2M!! ...
All very cool, as I said, for the set that wants the ultimate in vacation bragging rights.
They ask the guy who spent $20 million to ride in the Russian launch, and he says it's the thrill of his life.
What else could an ego like that say, that he'd blown the wad and spent the time as sick as a dog? No blowhard would admit such a thing, so there's no point in asking. And the riders in the Mirs would want to point out that they have to eat nothing for days to avoid the gassy problems that twelve hours in the dark with rent-a-sub close quarters involves...
But it is disheartening to see exploration lost for the sake of the "ride." There's no more science here than the latest from Universal Studios in Orlando.
No more rides for brides.
Keep the exploration, and lose Buck Rogers.
Let the wannabes buy their delusions of grandeur, and let the space program get back to space.
However, there are alternatives that can advance exploration if we could just stop focusing on the passenger. In the past ten years, robotics have taken such a leap that a little more push could yeild some fabulous results. Then, maybe it'd be worth the trouble to figure out how the human could survive years in space.
I don't need to outlaw Buck Rogers. He's making a fool of himself, and becoming a laughable old fossil.
I don't suppose there's anymore to this China story? Hah.
You oughta see the doddering old American jockeys begging to be let in the Chinese door as "consultants."
Seeing that we are actually in space now anyway even though most do not see beyond the taillights of the car immediately in front of their hood ornament, it would appear to be a matter not of should be but recognize that you are. All the same, 90% of the people on earth would not survive in outer space if there were any problem at all with their gear. Outer space is for a select few.
The finalists to be the first Chinese astronauts converged upon a hotel in a northwestern town as the mission neared, another news report said. And in Indonesia, Premier Wen Jiabao said the craft, the Shenzhou 5, would take off with a human crew "soon, very soon."
………….. Chinese astronauts have been training for years, though the military-linked program has never identified the trainees. Beijing has nurtured the dream of manned space flight since at least the early 1970s, when its first program was scrapped during the upheaval of the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. The current effort began in 1992 under the code name Project 921.
Four unmanned Shenzhou capsules have been launched, orbiting the Earth for up to a week and landing by parachute in the northern grasslands of China's Inner Mongolia region. Wen, asked about the launch at a regional meeting in Bali, Indonesia, said it was around the corner. "This will be very soon, very soon," Wen said. Asked about a specific date, he demurred: "We haven't decided."***
Like I wrote, the Newsweek article is worth the read, if only for the news on the Eclipse jet "taxi". It is also telling that the efforts at the X prize is in context with other multi-millionaire playthings and hobbies in this article. Bill Gates' carnival rides. Shallow, trivial, self-congratulatory, childish, disappointing emphasis, but properly in the private sector.
So much conspicuous consumption--"See where I went. It *transformed* me for $20M." Male display behavior.
Outer space could be for us all--we could send a force of laproscopy-laden robots to bring the whole Mars show to us. We could supercharge our engineering with the money we spend on spiders building cobwebs in space shuttles--something that would embarrass a middle-school science fair.
For the obsessed pilots and their groupies, wouldn't this at least be a scouting expedition? As close as it was this past year, I couldn't help but feel the lost opportunity every night when it glowed like an ember, throwing the whole Milky Way into darkness. Lost opportunity, all because of an infantile fixation on the bride and his ride.
Paid quite a price for the egos of Slayton and the Banker--bound on earth.
I agree with much of your feelings on this. The X-Prize was set up with guess who in attendance--Rutan--so he is an insider already. I don't personally care if we send robots into outer space at all if we don't intend to go out there ourselves. The space program acts like something 3rd world. They say no way, but 3rd world countries are launching their own satellites these days no problem. It was great for a couple years, but it looks like the American space program is over. Forget the robots. Nigeria and India can do that and they still get a charge out of it.
I don't personally care if we send robots into outer space at all if we don't intend to go out there ourselves. )))
Ourselves? You mean a proxy, in the form of a celebrity? The whole arrangement is infantile.
I don't know, really, how to address your uninterest in space...I had been given to understand in your previous posts that you had an interest in science.
It does speak to my contention that a purported interest in science and exploration is just a cover for the excitement factor in "riding."
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.