Slashdot Log In
Chinese Astronauts Complete First Spacewalk
Posted by
timothy
on Sat Sep 27, 2008 02:30 PM
from the awesome-cgi dept.
from the awesome-cgi dept.
As_I_Please writes "At 8:40AM (GMT) this morning, Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang successfully spent 18 minutes in a tethered spacewalk outside the spacecraft Shenzhou 7. This is an important step in China's goal of building an orbiting space station and sending astronauts to the moon."
Related Stories
[+]
China's First Spacewalk 148 comments
Smivs writes "The BBC reports that China will launch its third manned space mission in late September, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.
The Shenzhou VII flight will feature
China's first-ever space walk, which will be broadcast live with cameras inside and outside the spacecraft.
For the spacewalk, two crew members will go into the spacecraft's vacuum module. One yuhangyuan (astronaut) will carry out the spacewalk; the other is there to monitor the activity and assist in case of an emergency.
Two types of spacesuits — one made in China, the other from Russia — will be carried up on the flight.
It is unclear why China has opted for two different types of spacesuit.
Spaceflight analyst Dr Morris Jones commented that China might want to test the suits against each other. Alternatively, he said, it might not be ready or willing to fly a mission exclusively with its own suits."
[+]
News: China Announces Launch-Success Details — Before Launch 307 comments
Ironsides writes "After faking the fireworks at the Olympics this year, one would have thought China had learned their lesson. Now, it appears they announced the success of their manned space mission before liftoff even occured, complete with dialogue."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
Successful Spacewalk at 8:40am! (Score:4, Funny)
Is it for real this time? (Score:2, Interesting)
Old news (Score:5, Funny)
I read about this last week on an English language Chinese news website.
Right. (Score:2, Troll)
This is an important step in China's goal of building an orbiting space station and sending astronauts to the moon
Yeah, right. You've got a couple more steps before you can move into the Moon Base, speedy.
That's not quite the point... (Score:5, Insightful)
The point is that they are building their space program. You have to consider Asian, and especially East Asian thinking. They aren't like the west with its "profit immediately or forget about it" thinking. When I see China putting men into space (the third country to do so after Soviet Russia and then the USA) and now doing space walks, that means they already have a long term plan to set up semi-permanent if not permanent colonies in orbit or on other celestial bodies.
See, they are not in a space race. They are doing this for their more distant future. When they do something like this, they aren't thinking of the next quarter's profits or even the next year's. They are thinking in terms of the next generation or the generation after.
And, I applaud them for it. It is nice to see homo sapiens thinking long term about getting off this pale blue dot of ours, and not only thinking about it but taking active steps towards such a goal. I couldn't care less what language they are speaking or what country they are from. They are humans and they are making the effort that others seem to have given up on. Power to them.
Parent
Long-term planning (Score:5, Insightful)
Riiiiight. Because putting melamine in milk powder and antifreeze in toothpaste isn't about immediate profits, it's a long-term strategy for building a trusted brand.
Parent
Re:Long-term planning (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course they knew exactly what they were doing. According to this article in April of 2007 from the New York Times [nytimes.com] it was an open "secret" that melamine could increase the appearance of protein in animal and human food products without adding any nutritional value.
I'm amazed at how many apologists there are for these violations of public health by Chinese businesses and the lack of oversight by the Chinese government, a government that has no accountability to anyone. And because of how much China exports these corrupt business practices affect the health of people outside their borders.
I for one try, as much as possible, to avoid any products that come from China because I have no idea what I'm getting.
Parent
China feeds our greed; cf child slaves in W.Africa (Score:5, Insightful)
And because of how much China exports these corrupt business practices affect the health of people outside their borders.
I for one try, as much as possible, to avoid any products that come from China because I have no idea what I'm getting.
You know what. China is serving global demand. Global business demands profit at all and any cost. Consumers don't care who sewed their shirts, that those people despite working hard can't afford healthcare and education.
They say "don't care was made to care". Well the developed nations have sown the seed of their contempt for the humanity of the people of those manufacturing nations by not caring except about price. Now we're beginning to reap what we have sown.
You've all heard of companies using child/slave labour. Clothing manufacturers, computer makers. Much of the worlds chocolate supplies are tainted with slavery #1 ... none of these companies go out of business.
But now our constant drive for the bottom line is affecting the health of our home nations, now will we sit up and say no to globalised exploitation?
---
#1 about 50% of cocoa comes from West Africa (Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali) where child slavery (abduction of children to work for no money) was considered widespread in 2001/2002. I have never seen any reports of a solution to this problem. See eg, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1963617.stm [bbc.co.uk] http://www.365act.com/actions/2.html [365act.com] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/apr/19/globalisation.benstafford [guardian.co.uk];
Other sources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_exploitation_in_the_chocolate_industry [wikipedia.org] particularly http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/24/news/international/chocolate_bittersweet.fortune/ [cnn.com] (read that one if nothing else).
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
And my point was that unlike western farmers feeding sheep brains to cows, Chinese manufacturers did know at least by early 2007 that melamine was dangerous. I know this is Slashdot and you're only an AC but did you even try to take two minutes to read the article that I posted the link for. If you did you would see it is clear that Chinese manufacturers were absolutely, 100% aware of exactly what they were doing.
Also, if you took the time to read the article you would see there was harm and foul in early
it is the same business (Score:3, Insightful)
While they can make up whatever high goals -- to boost nationalism, to save the world, or whatever -- the entire execution is contingent on money and profits. China is a highly profit-driven place; a lot more than rich places. Companies have to see profits to do the tasks. And just like the U.S. and everywhere else in the world, China has to face the hurdle of creating job opportunities. Huge projects like these can save thousands jobs in their defunct state-owned factories. They also need to absorbs millio
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes and no.
In China, the lack of democracy means that you could plan for a distant future, as opposed to how you could get yourself (or your party) elected next term. In the west it's not "profit immediately or forget it" -- but rather "profit immediately, or otherwise the other party will revert it next term". China's current top-down approach in administration means it could move things with a definite purpose, rather than many individual working on their own interests.
But then, short term thinking is a c
Re:That's not quite the point... (Score:4, Insightful)
What was the point of landing on the moon? Advancement of humanity, or inspiring the nation? "Propaganda benefits", you could say. We just really, really needed to prove that we could beat the Soviets.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
None of the above.
The moon landing sent one message quite clearly:
Why this anti-chinese winds? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why are all posts so anti-chinese?
I love democracy and I live in a liberal western democratic country (Sweden), but I do not at all understand why all posts have to be so negative.
Lets critisize china when they do something bad. When they do something good like this, lets congratulate them! This is a great step forward, not only for china, but for all of humankind.
I honestly believe that China will be the space super-power during the 21st century and the faster they get there the better for ALL OF US - EVEN AMERICANS!
So lets just cheer and celebrate this success! Congratulate the astronauts and engineers that made this possible. It is impressive and it is a fantastic work no matter if you are a russian, american or chinese.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Jealousy, of course (Score:4, Insightful)
China is sending men into space. We are scrapping our only way of getting into space. Talk about progress...
Parent
Re:Why this anti-chinese winds? (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Why this anti-chinese winds? (Score:4, Insightful)
Because they're an authoritarian government that lies all the time?
As compared to our pseudo-authoritarian government that lies all the time?
Sure I can speak out against the government and not worry about being hauled off (generally), but the USA actually has a greater ratio of its citizens in prisons than China does in there.
So statically, if you are an US citizen you are more likley to be in prison than you are a Chinese citizen. Maybe we just have more criminals over here, but sometimes it just feels like this anti-Chinese sentiment is pot calling kettle black.
Also the top three nations of users of the death penalty are China, Iran, and the US (in that order). Seems like we have a lot in common.
Sometimes I start to wonder to myself that the only difference between the USA and China is that over there they know they aren't free while over here we're just duped into thinking that we are until we actually break a law.
Yeah, given the choice I'd rather live here than over there, but sometimes I wonder if only that pent up frustration against China could be directed at our own government so that we can actually someday hopefully change the path towards a more democratic state for everyone and not just those are in the majority way of thinking.
Parent
competition (Score:5, Insightful)
Sponsored by... (Score:5, Funny)
They mean that the space walk is tomorrow! (Score:2, Funny)
Since they like to make announcements of upcoming events as if they already occurred it's likely that they really mean that the the space walk is happening tomorrow.
Nice! (Score:4, Funny)
"Zhai lifted himself through the hatch and waved at the camera attached to the service module on the outside of the craft, with Earth looming overhead."
"He then tried to take off the helmet for a 'nicer portrait shot'."
(After the implosion of his body, another astronaut from the 344 person manned spacecraft was sent to replace him.)
Misread the name (Score:4, Funny)
Chinese astronaut Zhang Ziyi successfully spent 18 minutes in a tethered spacewalk outside the spacecraft Shenzhou 7.
My first thought, "that's pretty dangerous, in every movie she's been in, her clothes are ripped off suddenly and forcefully."
Get your facts straight (Score:5, Insightful)
I am seeing a lot of uninformed, and often racist, sentiment regarding this. Here are the facts.
1. This is not a Russian capsule. The three module shape is dictated by the principles of capsule design in general, not by China simply buying a set of blueprints
2. They are not moving that slowly, they are simply being economical with the number of missions they fly. It took Russia and the US 4 years to get from men in space to spacewalks, it has taken China 5 years.
3. Their spending money on this whilst there are *gasp* still poor people on China is not something that can be criticised from a country bailing out wall street whilst letting the poor rot. At least Chinese people will eventually benefit from space technology. Who will benefit from bankers being insulated from the consequences of their actions? Everywhere has inequality. No reason to crucify China specifically for it.
4. Shenzhou is the most technologically advanced manned spacecraft flying. The Shuttle has more capability but it is nearing the end of its life and when it retires, Americans better get used to play to second fiddle to China for a while.
5. Being racist makes you a dick. Chinese people are just as capable of this as you are.
Re:Non-Chinese proof of this? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
I think it's something about announcing launches, with detailed transcripts of conversations, before they happen. Sending underage athletes to international events, swearing they're of age even after evidence is found that they're not. Sadly, the list goes on and on.
At some point, distrust and skepticism becomes the norm.
Your point is well taken that all governments lie, and necessarily so. Some governments lie a lot about things that don't seem worth lying about.
Re:Non-Chinese proof of this? (Score:5, Insightful)
i would have agreed with you when i first read that article yesterday, but i couldn't understand why the Chinese government would lie about a launch that they already spent so much time and money preparing for, and were clearly going to carry out.
it wasn't until some other slashdotters remarked that this could have simply been a prepped news story, which is a common practice in mainstream media, and that the transcripts were probably holder text--still a bad idea i think, but at least understandable.
and it should be noted that this time there was live video footage. and it would be a pretty stupid thing to try to fake a space mission. i mean, cheating in the olympics, or any other sports, is something that you can get away with (and i have no doubt that plenty of countries have gotten away with on many occasions), but faking a space mission is more along the lines of lying about achieving cold fusion. there's just simply no way you can deceive people about that for more than a few weeks or months at most. so unless they plan on being ridiculed by the world later, it would be a very stupid thing to do.
Parent
Re:Non-Chinese proof of this? (Score:5, Funny)
The Bush administration did fake the Iraq war to scare Americans into voting Democratic. I am so sick of these liberal ploys to take over the white house.
Parent
Re:Non-Chinese proof of this? (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:Non-Chinese proof of this? (Score:5, Insightful)
i think most people recognize that. it's a pretty ethnocentric attitude to think that only the U.S. can conduct legitimate space research and everything China does must have an ulterior motive behind it. of course, if you see China as the enemy, then you can't concede to the fact that they might be genuinely interested in space exploration or recognize any achievements by the Chinese people.
it's really saying that we can be proud of our own space program, but China can't be proud of theirs. frankly, i think the more countries venture into space, the closer humanity as a whole gets to the possibility of space colonization. so who cares what flag is sewn onto their uniform? the are far worse things to spend time and resources on than space exploration.
Parent
Re:Non-Chinese proof of this? (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Non-Chinese proof of this? (Score:5, Interesting)
I think it's something about announcing launches, with detailed transcripts of conversations, before they happen.
If I am remembering correctly a news outlet in China published "accidentally," the story with a conversation transcript. While it is possible that that was exactly what was going to be published following the launch/spacewalk it could well have been a "template" for the real story to be published after the launch. China likes to script and practice things with meticulous detail prior to the actual "public" event. They're trying to prove to the world and themselves that they are worthy of attention as a global powerhouse and it starts for them by putting their best foot forward. They don't want mistakes and/or embarassments and this is their way of mitigating it.
These folks have done in 10 years what has taken over 100 in the US in terms of industrialization and economics. Cut them a bit of slack... I'm grateful to the Chinese for their pursuit of space exploration. It provides healthy competition that has been lacking since the fall of the USSR. It may well be what is needed to get the money flowing back into NASA and instead of the likes of Blackwater and DoD more generally. Even if there's a bit of exageration--which may or may not be the case--it isn't as if we weren't doing the same thing to the Russians with our own space program.
Parent
Re:Non-Chinese proof of this? (Score:5, Insightful)
"These folks have done in 10 years what has taken over 100 in the US in terms of industrialization and economics."
They bought a capsule design from Russia (and modified it to their needs) and then designed their own EVA suit. I think from 1959-1969 we pulled off a bit more than that.
Parent
Re:Non-Chinese proof of this? (Score:4, Insightful)
But then again they didn't have to invent industrialization first, they could buy industrial stuff from many suppliers. It's a bit like flying from Spain to the US and saying you're better than the discoverers because it was faster.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Plus the US did it purely from their intelligence and work
Yes, and the best German scientists money could buy. [wikipedia.org]
Re:Non-Chinese proof of this? (Score:4, Funny)
Just try not to kill everyone on the planet when you do it, mmmkay?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Oh, I don't blindly trust any countries government. Rather, I trust any countries government to say only what makes them look best, true or not.
More importantly, because just recently, China announced the exactly same story http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/25/2145209 [slashdot.org] *before* they had even *launched*...
Well.
Just as it's not good to discount /everything/ that some countries announce, sometimes the skepticism is well earned.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
More importantly, because just recently, China announced the exactly same story http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/25/2145209 [slashdot.org] [slashdot.org] *before* they had even *launched*...
So you are saying the Chinese pulled a dupe?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
That sounds somehow familiar [dallasnews.com].
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Your skepticism is likely well placed. These are the same people who posted details about the launch hours before the actual launch took place:
http://gizmodo.com/5054776/china-launch-success-hits-web-hours-before-actual-blast+off [gizmodo.com]
Re:Non-Chinese proof of this? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think it's that unusual for a press agency to write about events before they happen. They're expected to put out a release almost immediately to various wires (like AP), or they'll get scooped by other reporters and bloggers.
I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and suggest that they wrote the release as I would expect, and it somehow got out before it should have.
You can also bet that both of our US Presidential candidates are already working on their acceptance speeches, and will have them completed days before the election even takes place. I'm sure their campaigns' press releases already have quotes in them, too.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Press releases....sure. Transcripts!?
You're joking, right?
A press release for a successful mission would read like, "The People's Republic Of China successfully inserted their latest spaceship into LEO."
If it's circulated after the event it's non-fiction - provided the ship didn't actually burn on the launch pad. If it's circulated *before* the event has taken place it's called fiction....or, dare I say, propaganda. See the difference?
As far as the transcripts go, I take it with a grain of salt. China is s
Re:Non-Chinese proof of this? (Score:4, Interesting)
It was a fuckup, nothing more imho.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Forgive my skepticism, but this is exactly the sort of thing that China commonly lies about.
Finally conspiracy tards will be satisfied, there really will be a faked moon landing.
Re:Non-Chinese proof of this? (Score:5, Funny)
Nothing to see here...
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Well... except there are a lot of countries out there (ours very much included) with lots of technology watching the sky. I would *think* that if you wanted to fake something in Space, you'd need to have NASA complicit in your hoax. I kind of doubt that happened.
I'm skeptical of China too. But, I love space. Congrats guys, amazing accomplishment.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You mean the fireworks that actually happened? How much do you know about your supposed fake fireworks anyway?
Re:Non-Chinese proof of this? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)