China Successfully Completes 1st Manned Space Flight (Yang Liwei lands OK)

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/china-03zo.html

Beijing (AFP) Oct 16, 2003
China successfully completed its first manned space flight Thursday with the re-entry capsule of Shenzhou V and astronaut Yang Liwei safely returning to Earth and being found by recovery teams.

The capsule landed at 6.23 am (2223 GMT Wednesday) in the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia around the Siziwang area some 300 kilometres (186 miles) northwest of the capital Beijing. (...)

congratulations, China.

And, I hope it enables the Chinese to have more leverage against Bu$h and his evil regime.

:-)

And I implore you to *not* wish for China to gain leverage against the United States, Canada, and the EU. Being leveraged by fascist China is a bad thing. I promise you.

The desire for equilibrium. SOME foreign power to keep the USA in check. An all-powerful global bully is an extremely dangerous thing, one can argue even moreso than a brutal dictatorship that controls 1/3rd of the world but has to watch their rear end all the time.

That said, I'd much rather see the EU (a federation of capitalist democracies) stand up to the US than China.

Believe it or not, there are countries with worse leaders than our own.

The PRC is one of them. It has one of the worst human rights records of any country not named Tajikistan.

And I'm sorry, but it is precisely because I want a strong America that I oppose the Bush Administration. If you want a weak America and a relatively strong China, perhaps you should switch parties; the foreign policies of Mr. Bush have weakened America's standing everywhere.

i.e. develop a reusable shuttle to replace our 30 year old design, explore space and beyond to help develop alternative energy sources, new medicines, new technologies etc

Even using our most optimistic projection of 5 Trillion(that IS with a T) barrels of oil on Earth, at consumption of 77 million barrels a day, we will run out by 2080 and prices will go through the roof well before that. Well before we suck every drop out of Iraq, Saudia Arabia, Alaska, the deepest recesses of the ocean and under every rock we can think of. Space exploration to study cleaner, safer forms of energy. It might be that certain kinds of devices may need to be manufactured in a 0 gravity, 0 kelvin environment and then brought back down to Earth for use!

Even as I look in dismay at the flood of made in China products every time I go to Target or Kmart or Sears or (gasp)Wal Mart and of course the dollar store, Kudos to the Chinese for INVESTING their nation's wealth into space exploration and hopefully it'll be a KICK in our ass to get the hapless NASA back onto a secure footing!!!!!!!!

:kick:

DAMN!!!

my gf was all siles when she first heard about the launch last night, and she's jumping up and wn in joy now that he's back safe. Im proud for China, this was a job well done!

For any freeper types bitchig about this news, tough shit! At least China did it right the first time==even with a lot of help from the Russians--who knowalot about space flight--it still takes alot of effort and determination to complete a successful manned spaceflight--are you paying attention NASA?

IMHO, the space shuttle shuld have been replaced 10 years ago with updated versions or something safer and mor reliable. Clinton did try to start a program, but guess who axed it? Meanwhile, China's doing something we can watch--send a man into space and bring him back alive.

And bravo humanity, space the great frontier.
May we learn more about the earth and how to live in a sustained fashion.

the rocket that failed and fell over during the clinton era? i know that this rocket and capsule are very similar if not exact replicas of the soyuz 90's-era creations, so it's pretty darned sophisticated, but i also wonder if 1] they launched some military secret satellites while up there and 2] they used some of our stolen technology to do it. remember, they had access to that recon plane (downed after colliding with their fighter) for quite a time as well and went completely through it, and a lot of it was intact because the crew was unable to destroy everything before they were forced from the plane.

Seriously, of all the things a recon plane flying near Chinese airspace would be carrying, why advanced US rocket technology?

the technology from the Russians but improved it!

The Chinese bought Russian technical assistance and the design rights to Russian hardware. Shengzhu is derived from Soyuz but the Chinese have made many improvements, particularly with regard to long-term on-orbit performance. Shengzhu is not entirely Chinese but it's not a clone of Russian technology either.

it only makes sense... why just send a guy up there when you can use the same mission to launch a spy satellite.

http://www.washtimes.com/national/inring.htm

 Spy in the sky
    China's first manned spacecraft did more than simply showcase Beijing's efforts for civilian space flight. The Shenzhou 5, or Divine Vessel 5, spacecraft also conducted intelligence-gathering work for China's military.
    Included on the top of the Long March 2F rocket, which boosted Shenzhou into orbit Tuesday, was a new Chinese military intelligence-gathering satellite. The satellite was placed in orbit successfully shortly after the Shenzhou began its 14-orbit mission. No mention of the satellite launch was made in the state-run Chinese press.
    Additionally, defense officials said the single-astronaut spacecraft carried an infrared camera that conducted photographic spying. The camera was mounted outside the craft and has a resolution of 1.6 meters, meaning something as small as 5 feet wide can be distinguished.
    The space spying highlights China's plans to use space for military purposes, primarily to develop missiles and sensors, and to blind or cripple U.S. communications and intelligence systems in any conflict over Taiwan.
<snip>

gunpowder and cannon...one could say you've been stealing from her ever since.

And I didn't even mention paper, and the first calculating machine ever known. Or oil wells. Or....

until even that blew up. So who is second rate now?

Quick, send more money to Iraq and Israel & en geet them terrists, cus we r skeerd!

Only about 40 years late....