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Sending astronauts to Mars would be stupid, says ApolOne of the first astronauts to orbit the Moon said on Wednesday that it's "stupid" to plan human missions to Mars. Bill Anders, who was the lunar module pilot for NASA's Apollo 8 mission, told BBC Radio 5 Live that sending crews to the Red Planet would be "almost ridiculous." The U.S. space agency's goals include sending humans to Mars for exploration and scientific study. "What's the imperative? What's pushing us to go to Mars?" Anders, 85, said, adding: "I don't think the public is that interested." Still, the retired astronaut did...

China has successfully launched their Shenzhou 7 mission this morning. It will be their first-ever spacewalk and a major steps towards their trip to the Moon, so its completion is vital not only for their space program but also for Chinese propaganda. So vital that a full article describing the success of the launch was actually written and posted hours before the actual launch, including descriptions and astronauts' dialogue that never happened:After this order, signal lights all were switched on, various data show up on rows of screens, hundreds of technicians staring at the screens, without missing any slightest...

Last Updated: Friday, 15 April, 2005, 10:24 GMT 11:24 UK   China rocket man held for bribery   Li Jianzhong was influential in the 2003 Shenzhou V mission Li Jianzhong, a key figure in China's successful space programme, has been arrested on bribery charges, state news agency Xinhua has reported.Mr Li, former head of China's launch vehicle maker CALT, is alleged to have taken more than $200,000 in bribes and to have embezzled nearly $19m. CALT builds China's Long March rockets, one of which powered the manned Shenzhou V craft into space in 2003. Investigations into Mr Li started...

WASHINGTON: China may launch its first manned mission to space by 2003 or 2004, the Pentagon says in its annual report to Congress on the state of Chinese military. The report, issued on Friday says that Beijing has thorough knowledge of US and foreign space operations and has long-term plans to launch its own space station, and possibly a reusable space plane as well. "China continues to make progress with its manned programme. The first unmanned test launch occured in November 1999. A second unmanned test flight occurred in January 2001. "While one of the strongest immediate motivations for this...