Chinese in Space

[Jacob]

The Chinese send their first woman into space, and work is progressing on their space station: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18481806

Does it matter? Vote in the poll and share your thoughts with your fellow Languishites.

[Barrister]

Space is cool! 

Good for the Chinese.  However I was more excited with SpaceX having launched an unmanned vehicle with docked with the ISS, and is expected to do a private manned launch in the next couple of years at a fraction of the cost of NASA...

[Malthus]

The Chinese send their first woman into space, and work is progressing on their space station: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18481806

Does it matter? Vote in the poll and share your thoughts with your fellow Languishites.

The Chinese sent a woman into space? Their big problem is a lack of women back here on earth, what with the one-child policy. 

[Jacob]

The Chinese sent a woman into space? Their big problem is a lack of women back here on earth, what with the one-child policy. 

They already thought of that. Only women who had already given birth were considered as candidates.

[Grey Fox]

Good for China while NASA is fucked by budget cuts.

I voted Space is cool.

[Strix]

At least someone is making an effort. Go CHINA!

[Darth Wagtaros]

Good for China while NASA is fucked by budget cuts.

I voted Space is cool.

NASA is also fucked by massive bureaucracy. If Alpha Centauri taught us anything its that massive bureaucracy is bad.

[Tonitrus]

Good for China while NASA is fucked by budget cuts.

I voted Space is cool.

NASA is also fucked by massive bureaucracy. If Alpha Centauri taught us anything its that massive bureaucracy is bad.

And that we need to start sending people into the tanks, to become one with all the people.

[CountDeMoney]

The blackness of space belongs to whites waving the red white and blue, not to yellow reds; that's pretty pinko.

[mongers]

Well someone has to Eventually do it; pity the Yanks dropped the ball on this one, the Soviet were carried off injured at half-time, the Europeans choose to remain on the bench and the Brits never managed to find the stadium, but did put on a good display of touch football in the local park.

[derspiess]

Voted prestige project.  I'd rather they be focused on space and not that huge invasion tunnel to the US.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061387/

[Darth Wagtaros]

Good for China while NASA is fucked by budget cuts.

I voted Space is cool.

NASA is also fucked by massive bureaucracy. If Alpha Centauri taught us anything its that massive bureaucracy is bad.

And that we need to start sending people into the tanks, to become one with all the people.

When things are calmer and our Quantum Tanks are patrolling the frontiers we can think about sending up some agriculture pods.

[Barrister]

Good for China while NASA is fucked by budget cuts.

I voted Space is cool.

NASA is also fucked by massive bureaucracy. If Alpha Centauri taught us anything its that massive bureaucracy is bad.

I dunno man - at risk of getting all Timmy I think they way they've moved to private companies for their launch capability is looking like it is paying dividends.

Nasa chief hails new era in space
By Jonathan Amos

Science correspondent, BBC News

The head of Nasa has hailed a "new era" in exploration after the launch of the first cargo delivery to the space station by a private company.

The launch system has been built by California-based firm SpaceX.

The initial climb to an altitude some 340km above the Earth lasted a little under 10 minutes.

Within moments of being ejected, Dragon opened its solar panels.

It also unpacked its navigation equipment.

Nasa's administrator Charles Bolden said: "Today marks the beginning of a new era in exploration... The significance of this day cannot be overstated; a private company has launched a spacecraft to the International Space Station that will attempt to dock there for the first time.

"And while there is a lot of work ahead to successfully complete this mission, we are certainly off to good start."

It will take a couple of days to reach the station. The plan currently is for the vessel to demonstrate its guidance, control and communications systems on Thursday, at a distance of 2.5km from the International Space Station (ISS).

If those practice proximity manoeuvres go well, Dragon will be allowed to drive to within 10m of the station on Friday. Astronauts inside the platform will then grab the ship with a robotic arm and berth it to the 400km-high structure.

They will empty Dragon of its 500kg of food, water and equipment, before releasing it for a return to Earth at the end of the month.

For Elon Musk, the CEO and chief designer at SpaceX, Tuesday's lift-off was a special moment.

"Every bit of adrenalin in my body released at that point," he told reporters. "There's so much hope riding on that rocket, so when it worked, and Dragon worked and the solar arrays deployed, [company employees] saw their handiwork in space and operating as it should - it was tremendous elation. It's like winning the Superbowl."

The mission has major significance because it marks a big change in the way the US wants to conduct its space operations.

Nasa is attempting to offload routine human spaceflight operations in low-Earth orbit to commercial industry in a way similar to how some large organisations contract out their IT or payroll.

The carriage of freight will be the first service to be bought in from external suppliers; the transport of astronauts to and from the station will be the second, later this decade.

The US space agency hopes these changes will save it money that can then be invested in exploration missions far beyond Earth, at destinations such as asteroids and Mars.

SpaceX mission control celebrates a successful ascent to orbit for Falcon and Dragon SpaceX has many new systems it has to demonstrate in the coming days, and has tried to lower expectations ahead of the mission, repeating often that its aim is to learn things it did not previously know.

Nasa has set the California company a series of development milestones. Only when those have been met fully will a $1.6bn ISS re-supply contract kick in.

The agency is also looking to engage a second cargo partner. Orbital Sciences Corporation of Virginia is slightly behind SpaceX in its development schedule, although it started work on its Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule system later. Orbital expects to fly a first mission to the vicinity of the ISS later this year or early in 2013.

"We're really at the dawn of a new era in space exploration, and one where there's a much bigger role for commercial space companies," Mr Musk said.

"I think perhaps there's some parallels to the internet in the mid-90s where the internet was created as a government endeavour but then the introduction of commercial companies really accelerated the growth of the internet."

This was a container holding the cremated remains of more than 300 space enthusiasts, among them the late Star Trek actor James "Scotty" Doohan.

The ashes had been placed in the Falcon's discarded second stage.

They will continue to circle the planet for about a year before falling back to Earth and vaporizing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18154937

[Jacob]

That's pretty cool, BB.

[Barrister]

That's pretty cool, BB.

I see I left out the date of the article - it was from late May.  The capsule did in fact dock with the ISS and made a safe landing.

And there's another company that is also making great strides with its own rocket.