Divine Vessel in orbit
About an hour ago, the Chinese launched their first manned mission into space, with one Chinkonaut aboard. (Okay, that's the last time I'll use that. They made it into orbit, they deserve some props.) The Chinese government decided not to broadcast the launch live, but apparently all went well, and taikonaut Lt. Col. Yang Liwei, 38, is now circling the globe. He will return to Earth sometime tomorrow.
The Washington Post has some good coverage, or just go to the drudge report and use one of his several links. I'll have more on this tomorrow.
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Buckethead
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It's been a long time since
It's been a long time since US television has broadcast the distinctive profile of a Soyuz.
So... how long until the Chinese start using this stuff to spy? And what will happen when they do?
Now that the bright shining
Now that the bright shining spear of chinese technology has pierced the enveloping darkness of outer space...
Well, they've been sending up spysats for a while, now. They are nowhere near as capable as American spysats, though, and it can be safely assumed that if the Chinese go ahead with their space station plans, it will have military as well as scientific missions. Back in the sixties, the Air Force had plans for a "Manned Orbiting Laboratory" that was to have a crew of two, sent up by a Gemini capsule. The American spysats of the time used film cartridges which were sent back to Earth for processing and interpretation. This meant that there was a substantial lag time between taking the satellite photo and actually being able to see it. The MOL would have allowed realtime intelligence gathering by the two crew members, who would radio their conclusions to the ground.
While the Chinese spysats are not as primitive as the American versions of the sixties, having intelligence analysts in orbit would represent a substantial increase in their intelligence gathering capability.
You should have added to the
You should have added to the end of your headline "....: Nasa Surrenders"
heh
heh