China Plans Manned Space Mission This Month 168
jamstar7 writes "From an Associated Press report: 'China will launch three astronauts this month to dock with an orbiting experimental module, and the crew might include its first female space traveler, a government news agency said Saturday. A rocket carrying the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft was moved to a launch pad in China's desert northwest on Saturday for the mid-June flight, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing an space program spokesman. The three-member crew will dock with and live in the Tiangong 1 orbital module launched last year, Xinhua said. The government has not said how long the mission will last.' China, who is not an ISS partner, plans to see if its Shenzhou 9/Long March 2F system can get the job done like the Dragon/Falcon9 system can. They plan on two missions this year to dock with their Tiangong 1 module, which was launched in September 2011. Their eventual plans include building a complete space station by 2020, though one of only about 60 tons, compared to the ISS's 450-ish tons."
Re:Question... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Nice summary! (Score:5, Informative)
The well-known journalistic suffix of "-ish" is used when quoting figures from Wikipedia, where you cannot be sure of veracity, or using woefully vague units like "ton". Wikipedia gives the mass as "approximately 450,000 kg (990,000 lb)" [wikipedia.org], which is 450 tonnes (a non-SI unit acceptable in SI) or 495 short tons, the unit most commonly called "ton" in the US, 446 long tons, the unit used for the displacement of ships and in the UK. NASA, on the other hand, give the much less massive figure of "861,804 lb (390,908 kilograms)" [nasa.gov] or 391 tonnes, 431 short tons, or 395 long tons. Both sources approximate conversion from kg to lb, so there are four different figures to choose from even if you ignore the vagueness of "ton." Pick your poison.
Re:It's true.. (Score:5, Informative)
Japan is an economic joke!
Japan's GDP per capita is only $4K less a year than the USA and higher than Germany's. Some joke!
Re:Secrecy of the Chinese Space Program (Score:5, Informative)
Are you kidding me? The mission was announced in 2002. With the date being narrowed down as time passed. The use of a female astronaut was announced in 2004. Nothing secret about it.
Re:Secrecy of the Chinese Space Program (Score:2, Informative)
That simply isn't true. They have a (public) plan and (AFAIK) are following it. Here, I even found you a link: http://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/30/016203/china-reveals-its-space-plans-up-to-2016/ [slashdot.org]
Re:Question... (Score:1, Informative)