China Preparing To Send Crewed Shenzhou 11 To Tiangong 2 Space Station In 2016 54
MarkWhittington writes: China has not sent people into space since the mission of the Shenzhou 10 to the prototype space station Tiangong 1 in June 2013. Since then the Chinese have accomplished the landing of the Chang'e 3 on the lunar surface. According to a story in Space Daily, the hiatus in Chinese crewed spaceflight is about to end with the launch of the Tiangong-2 prototype space station in 2016 with the subsequent visit by a crew of Chinese astronauts on board the Shenzhou 11. The mission will be a prelude to the construction of a larger Chinese space station, slated to be completed by 2022.
Great--humans getting back into space (i know ISS. (Score:3)
Best yet, the Chinese are keeping their end up. So, you know...Firefly...
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Not quite. In Firefly, both the Chinese faction and the American faction were strong in space exploration, so the two languages spoken in the new society after the migration were English and Chinese.
In real life, what's going to happen is the Chinese will be the only ones strong in space exploration, while the Americans and their buddies sit around and bitch about how it's a waste of money and how the Moon landings never happened, and when it becomes clear the Earth-of-old is about to die (whether it's cli
Re:Great--humans getting back into space (i know I (Score:5, Insightful)
>> I bet you'd be real fun at parties if you were ever actually invited to any.
That's kind of his point, actually. E.g,. "short-sighted Americans worry about parties while the Chinese send their children to the stars."
The rest of us just want to say, "GTF off our 'news for nerds' board if this stuff bores you."
Re: (Score:2)
Thank you, I couldn't have said it better myself.
Re: (Score:2)
Mod parent up
Re: (Score:3)
"Less inhospitable than other nearby planets" doesn't make this planet automatically "hospitable". If it gets to the point where people have to live in domed cities or underground or something, I could see why some people would want to build generation ships and go somewhere else. It's a long shot of course; what would be the feasibility in fixing this planet to make it decent again, vs. what's the feasibility of finding another planet that's more hospitable out-of-the-box?
You're wrong about the asteroid,
Re: (Score:2)
even a fairly large asteroid(global catastrophy scale) would leave earth more hospitable than mars or venus.
that's the point. turning earth into mars would be an apocalypse times 10.
Re: (Score:2)
Given the glacial pace and lack of ambition the Chinese have displayed so far... whatever you're smoking in order to believe this has to be illegal.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I live in WA, out on the peninsula, and I don't think any local store carries anything that strong. :)
Suspicious timing? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Not quite. In Firefly, both the Chinese faction and the American faction were strong in space exploration, so the two languages spoken in the new society after the migration were English and Chinese.
In real life, what's going to happen is the Chinese will be the only ones strong in space exploration, while the Americans and their buddies sit around and bitch about how it's a waste of money and how the Moon landings never happened, and when it becomes clear the Earth-of-old is about to die (whether it's climate change or asteroid impact or whatever), the Chinese alone will create generation ships and seek out a new star system, while the rest of us perish as the planet becomes uninhabitable. So the society you saw in Firefly won't ever happen; it'll just be a Chinese-descended society in the new star system. It'll probably strongly resemble the Alliance, but without an actual "alliance" (it's just one power, no alliance necessary), and without any rebels.
Ya sure, except that is stupid. Unless the Chinese become even more racist and xenophobic than they are now then there will be a gradual melding of cultures and genetics over time. By the time we have to worry about Earth being uninhabitable by any foreseeable demise, neither China nor America will be anything more than a distant memory like the Roman Empire or some remnant of what they are today. Sure if you froze societies in time in the near future it would be China and the US, with EU countries, Russ
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
In real life, what's going to happen is the Chinese and the Russians will be the only ones strong in space exploration
Re: (Score:2)
In real life, what's going to happen is the Chinese and the Russians will be the only ones strong in space exploration
In real life, we're going to go extinct soon.
Re: (Score:2)
what's going to happen is the Chinese will be the only ones strong in space exploration, while the Americans and their buddies sit
Kickass acid, eh?
Re: (Score:2)
Not a problem, they can partner with the Russians for all that stuff. America can't even launch anything any more without buying engines from the Russians, and the Russians have a much more successful military. America spends trillions and gets nothing for it, Russia sends in some Spetznaz and a few armored divisions and gets Crimea and other territory. Meanwhile, ISIS is destroying 2000-year-old Roman-era UN-protected temples and the US military, for all its "operational experience and force projection"
At least you know what kind of food... (Score:4, Funny)
>> a larger Chinese space station, slated to be completed by 2022
At least you know what kind of food they'll serve when you get there.
Re: (Score:3)
It won't be "Chinese food" if that's what you're thinking, it'll be actual Chinese food. The stuff they make for us Westerners isn't real Chinese food (and too bad too, the westernized stuff is great). Most westerners wouldn't care much for most authentic Chinese food.
Re: (Score:2)
>> It won't be "Chinese food" if that's what you're thinking, it'll be actual Chinese food.
Yeesh, that's why it's a joke. "Chinese space station" means the work of an entire unified nation, while "Chinese food" both fails to describe the various cuisines available in China AND refers to the Westernized versions which assuredly WON'T be there.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
But, the real question remains unanswered. Will the astronauts be hungry a half hour later?
Re: (Score:2)
Or, as stated in the Seinfeld episode, "only over there they just call it food."
Re: (Score:2)
The main difference seems to be that the Chinese are not bothered by their food looking like an animal, where as westerners prefer it to be carefully prepared and processed. For example, Chinese people will happily have a whole fish on their plate and cut the meat out of it themselves as they eat. In the west people prefer the good meat to be cut out, covered in something and served up boneless.
I'd just about okay with whole fish now, but I still can't eat shrimps.
China is really catching up (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Either that or get to work on asteroid mining and get started on the O'niell Cylinders. That would be one way to fix the overpopulation problem in China.
This is shortsighted. (Score:2)
Very shortsighted, and it will get expensive. When they return to Earth they'll want to go back in an hour
Not a "protoype space station" if it's in space (Score:2)
It's may be a prototype on the ground. When it's in space and working, it's just a space station.
Re: (Score:2)
Space stations don't have production lines. They're each unique and built one at a time.
Re: (Score:2)
Prototypes often work perfectly well. In fact, if you've got any sense you make sure you've got a prototype that works before you start making non-prototypes.
In this case, they're calling it a prototype because it's a little can that doesn't do much except serve as a docking target.
SO how (Score:1)
Fell for this twice while browsing the stories today.
Good for Sandra Bullock (Score:1)
If there's a Chinese space station, she can use their Soyuz clone to get back to earth after the shuttle and the ISS is destroyed.
2 space stations are better than 1 (Score:4)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It is not like it was with Christopher Columbus journey.
It all may change one day if human lifespan is prolonged, if the radiation issue is solved somehow, but so far humanity's best bet is to stick to Earth, try to find solutions on this planet.