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Space China

China Launches 6-Month Crewed Mission, Cements Position as Global Space Power (cnn.com) 69

Posted by EditorDavid from the rocketing-up dept.
"China launched a three-person crew into space in the early hours of Saturday," reports CNN, calling it "a major step for the country's young space program, which is rapidly becoming one of the world's most advanced..." They will dock at China's new space station, Tiangong (which means Heavenly Palace), six and a half hours after launch. They will live and work at the station for 183 days, or just about six months... "This will certainly be their longest mission, which is quite impressive when you consider how early it is in their human spaceflight regimen," said Dean Cheng, senior research fellow at the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy.

This is the second crewed mission during the construction of the space station, which China plans to have fully crewed and operational by December 2022. The first crewed mission, a three-month stay by three other astronauts, was completed last month. Six more missions have been scheduled before the end of next year, including two crewed missions, two laboratory modules and two cargo missions. "For the Chinese, this is still early in their human spaceflight effort as they've been doing this for less than 20 years ... and for fewer than 10 missions," Cheng added. "In the past, the Chinese put up a crewed flight only once every two to three years. Now, they're sending them up every few months."

"If the Chinese maintain this pace ... it reflects a major shift in the mission tempo for their human spaceflight efforts...."

China successfully landed an exploratory rover on the moon last December and one on Mars in May. The first module of the Tiangong space station launched in April. Just last week, an international team of scientists released their findings from the moon rocks China brought back to Earth... "The European Space Agency, Russia, India, and Israel have suffered Moon or Mars probe failures in recent years; China succeeded with both on the first tries," David Burbach, associate professor of national security affairs at the US Naval War College, told CNN via email. Though the US still has the world's leading space program, he said, "there's no doubt that China is the world's Number 2 space power today."

China's ambitions span years into the future, with grand plans for space exploration, research and commercialization. One of the biggest ventures will be building a joint China-Russia research station on the moon's south pole by 2035 — a facility that will be open to international participation... Chinese astronauts have long been locked out of the International Space Station due to US political objections and legislative restrictions — which is why it has been a long-standing goal of China's to build a station of its own...

One reason space research cannot be divorced from terrestrial politics, and why the issue is so complicated, is because "the Chinese space program is heavily influenced, and its human and lunar programs are overseen, by the Chinese military," Cheng said. "Cooperating with China in space means cooperating with the Chinese military."
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China Launches 6-Month Crewed Mission, Cements Position as Global Space Power More

China Launches 6-Month Crewed Mission, Cements Position as Global Space Power

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  • China Launches 6-Month Crewed Mission to Discover and Explore the American Continent, Cements Itself as a Global Exploration Power

    Been there done that

  • Sigh (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This is what happens when our country if full of backwoods inbreds who are anti-science and believe in a magical, invisible sky wizard. Other countries have caught up and have completely passed us in the space race. Pretty soon THEY will be colonizing space and we'll be back in the dark ages.

    • Apparently you've been so far in the backwoods with other inbreds that you've never heard of SpaceX.

    • Re:Sigh (Score:4, Insightful)

      by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Saturday October 16, 2021 @10:05AM (#61897981) Journal
      Every country has plenty of those. But ask yourself: what kind of people does your country celebrate? Who do people listen to, who do they put in charge?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by caseih ( 160668 )

        Sometimes it's both. The CCP, for example, both promotes science and elevates some (but only if they don't get too powerful) scientists to great presitige while at the same time promoting the cult of personality of the party president. This includes forcing schools to teach children about the personal philosophies of the leader in a nearly religious manner. An interesting mix to say the least. Personally I prefer smart, humble people, but that combination in politics is hard to come by.

    • Pretty soon you say. Before Musk to Mars? Space is hard and unforgiving. No one has colonized* space, and the space stations everyone has sent isn't colonization, but baby steps towards that. It's admirable what the Chinese are doing, but lets not let pride or self-flagellation cloud reality either.

      *Settlement [space.com] would be a better term.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by quenda ( 644621 )

        No one has colonized* space, and the space stations everyone has sent isn't colonization, but baby steps towards that.

        The first anarctic base was established in 1898. [wikipedia.org]
        Antarctica is far more appealing to live in than space, the moon, or Mars. But still no colonies, and no plans, 123 years later.

        I hope to see a scientific base on Mars in my lifetime, but not holding my breath on a full colony in Antarctica, or at the bottom of the ocean, let alone in space.

    • This is what happens when our country if full of backwoods inbreds who are anti-science and believe in a magical, invisible sky wizard. Other countries have caught up and have completely passed us in the space race. Pretty soon THEY will be colonizing space and we'll be back in the dark ages.

      We might be more receptive to your lectures about "science" if you didn't believe that boys can become girls just by wishing hard enough.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by dddux ( 3656447 )

      The USA has been on a civilisation downfall for more than a couple of decades. You did it to yourselves by voting circus acts for presidents, by not protesting, by supporting corporations, by succumbing to greed... and essentially living in the USA dream bubble. When it bursts, Crom knows what's gonna happen. You might become China, and China will become you. Except that you will be ruled by corporations instead of CCP, but the difference is actually not that big, and that's what makes Americans feel happie

    • Other countries have caught up and have completely passed us in the space race.

      In order to catch up and pass us in a race - there must first be a race. There isn't.

    • How can someone like you who obviously hates America sigh at America's decline? You should be cheering. What's gone wrong here?

  • I don't understand why they are still banned from the ISS. It used to have "sensitive" technology, but that was decades ago. It's old-hat now. The Russians are not exactly trustworthy either. The ISS is falling apart and needs as much help as it can get.

    • The Russians refuse to let the Chinese license new military equipment for local manufacture anymore. They used to do that all the time. I really doubt the Russians want them copying their space tech, it is one of the few money-making industries they have left.

  • From the article "If the United States is unwilling or unable to keep up its manned space flight program" Are you freaking kidding me, -we shot shatner into space this week- ALIVE We had to send scotty up dead This article is FUD brought to you by the Alabama Concressional Congregation
  • A few months ago a Chinese rocket booster crashed uncontrollably into the Indian ocean. I am not sure what if any formal attempt at designing rocket recovery into their plan. But these sort of things have been figured out before. And they could benefit by working together with other countries. Or at least, copying the technology better But without the pressure or incentives, their launches are going to create a lot more space junk than necessary, and a constant "good luck!" sort of fear for the entire wor

  • Don't be so naÃve to think it's any different with the US space program, behind the curtains the militarily is controlling the space program too.

    But good luck to the chinese to have their space program finally progress in such a speedy way, where the US program has come to a halt, but only progresses through the work of commercial space companies like SpaceX (or Blue Origin).

    • It isn't behind a curtain, the system was designed that way.

      It is always amusing when an ignoramus presumes everybody else is naive. We'd have told you if we'd known you didn't know, or if you'd asked.

  • I bet itâ(TM)s easy for China to get funding for space exploration

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