E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSLiu Yang becomes the first Chinese female astronaut to go to space while traveling on the Shenzhou 9 capsule. NBC's Ed Flanagan reports.
BEIJING -- China's first woman in space, Liu Yang, will be conducting space medical experiments on a 10-day mission that started Saturday, but experts are deeply interested in the mechanics of the mission -- namely the manual space docking the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft will attempt with the Tiangong-1 module.
Launched last September, the Tiangong-1 is China’s first space laboratory module and a key cog in Beijing’s larger ambitions of establishing a space station by 2020. From this outpost, Chinese scientists over the next few years will be able to test out new equipment and experiment with future space station capabilities.
But first Chinese astronauts need to prove they can actually dock with it.
Last year, China successfully got its unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft to remotely link up with the Tiangong-1 module, but this will be the first time Chinese astronauts will attempt to manually guide a spacecraft into docking.
"Some people describe the manual docking as threading a needle from 100 meters away, so you can see how difficult and precise the procedure would be” said astronaut Jing Haipeng, who with 14 years of experience in China’s space program, will be responsible for this critical aspect of the mission.
"The manual space rendezvous ... is a huge test for astronauts' ability to judge spatial position, eye-hand coordination and psychological abilities," he added.
According to NBC News space analyst, James Oberg, the sooner China’s astronauts master how to linkup with the Tiangong-1, the faster the country will be able to realize its long-term vision.
“The Tiangong-1 is not just a docking target ... this is a full-fledged, live support module that can also can be used as a living space if the Chinese decide to move beyond low-Earth out to the moon or deep space” said Oberg. “The Tiangong-1 is exactly the kind of module for long term, deep space missions.”
China’s space rise a cause for concern?
According to Oberg, China’s rapid development in space capability is quickly bringing the nation to the same level as the other major space powers.
“What the Chinese are doing is not just going on a tail chase of ancient space race accomplishments,” says Oberg, “They are bringing themselves right up to and in some cases maybe even taking a step ahead of some of the other space powers.”
“It’s a very, very impressive program on a very broad front,” he adds.
There have been some questions, though, about whether China’s space program is going too fast. An annual U.S. Department of Defense report on China’s military and security developments released in May theorized that China’s space program might be encountering challenges in system reliability, pointing to an August 2011 malfunctioning of a Long March 2C rocket.
China is currently in the process of several large scale improvements in its space capabilities. The design of the much larger Long March 5 booster and the construction of a new rocket launch site on Hainan Island are just two examples that will push China’s technological expertise.
Report: First Chinese female astronaut joins space club
Increased reliability and confidence in China’s space capabilities will be critical for another important Chinese aspiration: increased commercial opportunities. European and American satellite builders have traditionally corned the market on satellite construction and launching. A U.S. ban on the use of American components in satellites launched by China have effectively kept China out of the competition for satellite construction bids.
The success of Chinese designed, constructed and launched satellites could position China to be a major player in the industry.
“When the Chinese get credibility for their technology that space successes give them, they elbow their way to the top rank,” says Oberg, “the slice of the U.S. pie will shrink when the Chinese start getting a bigger slice.”
More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- 'Powerful conservative force': Saudi Arabia's next in line to throne dies
- Suu Kyi: Nobel Prize 'made me real once again'
- Japan approves reactor restarts, more seen
- Motivated by fear not hope, a polarized Egypt heads to the polls
- Muslim Brotherhood has fans in upscale Cairo suburb
- US official: Russia sends troops to Syria as peace hopes fade
- Are Libyans turning against the West?
- Bartering takes hold in austerity-wracked Greece
Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
Leave a Comment:
If we think China is our friend,if we don't recognize how deadly this can ultimately be,then we deserve to have the sands of time sweep over this nation
RESPONSE: China says its space program is not military, entirely for peaceful scientific research. But the late Mao's lament raises a haunting question: What was the REAL reason that Mao wanted to put potatoes in space?
I think the answer is obvious. Potato Cannons! (AKA: "Spud Guns"). And as any adolescent boy (or college fraternity house veteran) can attest, Potato Cannons are ominous and entirely first strike offensive weapons! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spud_gun
Can the United States of America afford to risk allowing itself to fall behind the Chinese in the development and deployment of Space-borne Potato Cannons? The implications to our National Security are enormous.
;-)
Pained1..
You said it! China is not now nor have they ever been our friend.. At least not the government, that's for sure.. I'm not lumping the entire country in that statement because I have no doubt many of the Chinese people hate their government and would love to see the country become democratic..
However, that is not likely to happen anytime soon and what counts is China's longtime hatred toward us and everything we stand for.. Now, they are aiming (or more to the point, ARMING) to go into space! Give me a break, the last thing this country needs is to have Chinese missiles pointed at us from several hundred miles up! It's the damn 'cold war' all over again!
What's really sad, is the fact that we, the American people, sat on our collective FAT a$$es while OUR government closed the door on our space program.. If we think private industry is going to put us into space and protect us from any foreign country that wants to put weapons up there, that just isn't going to happen.. We were and ARE moronic fools for leaving ourselves wide open to having a giant gun barrel pointed at us by a country that has made no bones at how much it would love to blow us up! The Chinese simply look at us like a bigger Tibet or more like a starving dog looks at a massive steak!
Seabreezin' wrote:
REPLY: Hmm, Steak and space potatoes. Sounds pretty "American" to me. I think a less emotional analysis would conclude that China looks at us as their largest number one economic competitor, number one trade partner and number one source of disposable income for national development. Only a foolish nation would seek to destroy its benefactor, and China may be a lot of things but a "foolish nation" is not one of those things.
Caution is an obvious and fundamental precept in all International relations. But paranoia based in ignorance of one's competitors distorts reason, and almost guarantees missteps and serious misjudgments. The Chinese understand this well:
Robert:
In 2012 America is suffering from not a Sputnik gap, but a "Spud" gap. High level military officials at the Pentagon have been urging the Administration to develope the high-tech necessary to launch an all-American Spud into space decades earlier before the Chinese latest mission.
Military Intelligence at the CIA has reported that the Chinese PLA had embarked on a 5-year Spud Leap Forward Program to produce the biggest, meatiest Chinese Spud for space exploration. Preliminary photos leaked out shows a Spud resembling an American Idaho Russet type, causing a massive internal investigation as to who had betrayed America's top secret Spud design or leaked top-secret Spud specification to the Chinese. Already, there have been diplomatic barrages and counter barrages between the two nations over the latest Spud Crisis.
Congressman Wolf of Virginia has introduced legislation banning all spud export to China until China improves human right policy while Congresswoman Boxer of California wants a Senate hearing as to why NASA has failed to launch a bigger Spud than the Chinese. Obama stated that his hope and dream is to have America orbit the biggest Spud once he is re-elected. Rommney, not to be out-done, said if elected President, he would guarantee America will orbit the biggest Spud and Steak made in Maine. Ron Paul, in a coded subtle message, said he would orbit both Bernanke and the Federal Reserve with the Spud into space.
So, take that, China!
FatCatGets$700Bil, what really scares me is the concurrent British Intelligence and NSC reports, and subsequent CIA statement regarding the Iranian effort for orbiting potatoes:
It's Déjà vu all over again!
;-)
You're bothfunny boys of the left who don't know what an enemy looks like.Draped in finery and smiling.The right isn't so wonderful either.We pay our taxes,and are rewarded with decline
'pained1', do you know what happens when you move too far to the Right?
Everyone else appears to be Leftists!
I'm just sayin' .....
Robert, there's nothing wrong with a little paranoia.. Too often, too many country's dire regrets, they ignored the so-called Doomsayers.. China would love nothing more then to wipe America off the face of the planet and replace us with some of their over-burgeoning billions.. I'm not saying they would destroy the land itself, that would definitely be stupid, but they would, if they got even a tiny bit of a chance, take out our major governmental cities and military bases.. With a big fat weapon in space above us it wouldn't be hard to aim true..
Maybe YOU should move a tab more to the right and follow your own words..
USA is no friend to anybody. USA is profit and power only. Your military industrial complex needs the profit and you will never have peace. You need to continually immagine enermies to justify your existance.
Seriously, think about it for a second. And I mean really think about it...logically.
A gigantic portion of China's economy revolves around Americans and the things they buy. This part of their economy is so entirely vital to their way of life that they are actively supporting us by buying up our national debt to keep us going...and if they destroyed us, they'd never see a penny of the money they've invested in us. USA and China's existences are so integral these days that if one country was wiped off the face of the map, the other country would collapse in a matter of years.
The reason people don't typically listen to "Doomsayers" is because they're almost always crazy people. But the one advantage that the crazy people have is that if you scream "the end is nigh" for long enough, they'll eventually be right.
'Hosfac', your points are exactly on the mark. The problem is you are trying to preach logic to the illogical, ... which by extension is ... illogical.
Ah, the bitter irony of sanity in an insane world where "truth" and "reason" have become abstract and quaint concepts to so many among us, huh?
;-)
The fact is the left and the right have ignored our mission in space to get the higher ground and now we are going to pay a price I'm sure Kennedy is rolling in his grave that this country is more concerned in unlimited money to wars here while our adversaries gain the ultimate high ground while we pay another adversary for rides into that high ground. Either they are morons or sold us out.
Maybe that's why they needed the first woman astronaut on board... to park it? Old joke.. sorry.
pained, maybe we NEED some "sands of time" swept over us.
Caution, yes. But if we don't embrace the POSSIBILITY of friendship, we are fools.
China will have a Mars mission long before we will. If they are successful with this mission they will surpass the United States in space capabilities within 5 to 10 years no question. They are fully behind their space program and have the resources and technical know how to surpass both Russia and the US
I tend to agree. The national will (and at least for present the financial resources) appear to line up to support China's space goals.
It is interesting to realize that 25 years ago author and futurist Arthur C. Clarke predicted in his 1987 novel "2061: Odyssey 3", that the People's Republic of China would leap-frog the US and Russia and become the preeminent nation in manned spaceflight (in the novel, landing a manned mission on Jupiter's moon Europa, seeking life ... and unfortunately finding it or actually it finding them).
where are your potatos?Be a dick to this guy too.
Geez, doesn't anybody proof read these articles? I don't know how many misspellings and typos I see in this one!!
One thing that would keep me from ever boarding that rocket: The words on the side, down low..."Made in China."
While American conservatives are so anti-China, they are not against shipping American jobs to China to make profits, nor is the US Chamber of Commerce against accepting funds from China to politic for the same American conservatives who prefer profits over patriotism. Social conservatives want Americans to be religious socialists begging God for welfare instead rewarding the American worker with decent wages, health care and decent living conditions. Americans should not envy China's success. When corporations consider people in addition to their profit, we can be successful too.
Soon. All our satellites will be made in China! Cheaper!
ESS, that's what we used to say about Japan, and today nobody can dispute the quality of Japanese products. We tend to dismiss other countries when they begin to advance and probably compete with us in whatever enterprise they choose, and the only weapon we use is disdain and hidden hate, like many in this blog.
No need to remind you that the Russian were the first in space with a satellite, with a woman, with a dog, with a Space Station that were supossed to last a couple of years and went over twelve, I believe.
Made in China is as good as made in USA, the only difference is that they manufacture things while we spend our time fearing and demeaning the achievements of the rest of the world. I guess it makes us feel good about ourselves.
AMEN,Well said Rasputin!
Right now all the government in this country USA sees is the short term profits from wars ignoring any development that will lead us into the future we will fall by the roadside like so many empires before failing to look to the future instead embracing short term profits for their corporate masters.
Docking capabilities, something that both Russia and the USA had to master, is a MAJOR step in space. The Chinese had developed their own mechanisms. For better or worse, here's a new space power, in this world!
Old Saying: The one left standing wins. Well USA no longer standing. Russian and China excell. USA can no longer afford to send people into space, Russian and China can. They are both left standing, we down in the gutter, sadly.
"we down in the gutter, sadly". "We" (USA) want a McDonald's in space! Privatize!
And we want Snookie for President.
What's a quarter-pounder weigh in space?
About 3 Yuan.
Roadkill nothing corporations do is for the good of people and the rights argument that big business does it better doesnt fly since they drove the world economy into the ground its just not true privatizing does it better Especially on reseaech and development they wont risk capital on research they just stay sucking all they can from works now only researching or stealing some other ideas when profits dwindle leaving them years behind.
I wonder how many nuclear warheads they brought with them to aim at the US?
Why would they do that. They own 3 years worth of USA GDP, it all but their territory, and at the current rate of spending it will be all theirs. They do not want damaged merchandise.
That was a very neat and clean take off of that rocket, Way to go China!
Welcome to the space age, China. I wish you well in your space endeavors.
Another success story of "Made In China".
China really is getting good at this stuff! Kudos to our new masters. I guess the monopoly on space really is over. India is getting ready to launch as well. Seems the US is so broke and janky now she has to take a back seat.
You are witnessing a new age, a social transition from Capitalism to Socialism. Socialism has proven beyond any doubt that it is far more effecient and humane than Capitalism. China under the leadership of the CPC (Communist Party of China) has accomplished more for the people of China and the world than any other nation in the history of the world, without war and imperialist aggression.
China is not strictly communist,they are a pragmatic mix of ideologys.Socialism and communism are not the same thing,by the way.
Say what you want about the chinese government (and trust me, I have plenty to say), but at least they can see the future and have their priorities straight...unlike us here in the US.
China moves forward in space while according to Obama, the mission of NASA's Director is to make sure the Muslim countries feel good about their innovations of several thousand years ago.
Go back to the political forums, Tea-troll.
Then why are the Chinese exporting junk products that break and are inferior to our economy when they can achieve this feat in space?
This shows the US CEO's are to blame for allowing junk to be made and shipped into our country.
China's progress is a tribute to the Chinese work ethic. They are digging themselves out of the hole while we bury ourselves in debt (public and private).
The Chinese are also smart enough to know that pure communism doesn't work, and that people need incentive to be productive. The increase in individual incentives (profit) for the Chinese is a positive economic force. The current drift of democratic states in Europe and the US away from individual incentive (profit) and toward socialism in the US is a negative economic force.
It's a big mistake to label "profit" a dirty word, and that's a common theme today in the free world.
There is a fairy tale,that america is too poor to keep up with China and invest in big projects like space exploration.The truth is;we just refuse to.When we look back at the time when America led the world in almost every endeavor,check out the tax rate.America,by the way,is still the richest country on earth,the difference is no company,corporation or individual pays the same tax rate as in the three decades after WWII.The result of these govt investments was an explosion of jobs that were piggybacked off these projects by supporting industries and companies created to take advantage of the technology discovered through govt research grants.The money that used to support these patriotic investments is now overseas or Panama and the Cayman Islands,Swiss accounts are also big.Just something to consider.
Quit whining and get your school age children to study more math and science. Do not pay for your children to go to college for a fine arts or liberal arts degree, if they want that make them pay their own way.
If your child gets C and B's in Math and Science praise them, get them tutors. If they get straight A's in Fine arts, music or liberal arts, that is no benefit to you or society or to them.
Ask your college to stop forcing the students to take useless General education classes that perform no good except keep those departments in business. If your student doesn't want to take Science, Technology, Engineering or Math, don't waste your money on supporting them in school.
Put an end to anthropology, fine arts and other liberal arts in most of the schools, NOW! Maybe think about getting rid of Political Science (not a science) and Journalism. After all the great Journalists of the 20th century usually had a High School degree and no college degree.
Otherwise, start taking Chinese classes. I am.
Matbe they would if there was a future in it say working on our space program OOOPS! We dont have one!
Some people looked at the relationship with China as if we are from the Balkan.
Obama, since you destroyed NASA, making drastic military cuts, as China and Russia are doing the opposite, expanding their military threat in Asia, and the middle east.