Divine Vessel [Shenzhou] 7
Riding a wave of pride and patriotism after hosting the Olympics, China's communist leaders face few of the public doubts or budgetary pressures constraining such programs elsewhere. That has allowed them to fuse political will and scientific gusto in a step-by-step process that could one day see Chinese astronauts landing on the moon.
Chinese space programs are methodically moving forward in a "very deliberate, graduated" manner, said Charles Vick, a space analyst for the Washington think tank GlobalSecurity.org. Beijing is accumulating the building blocks of a comprehensive program, demonstrating "caution but confidence" as it gains on the U.S. and other space powers, he said.
Future goals are believed to include an unmanned moon landing around 2012, a mission to return samples in 2015, and possibly a manned lunar mission by 2017 — three years ahead of the U.S. target date for returning to the moon
Chinese astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng at the space program headquarters in Beijing's north suburbs, China, on Sept. 29, 2008. The three Chinese astronauts who successfully completed a space journey Sunday came back to Beijing Monday morning. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli) Phot72
Three Chinese astronauts who successfully completed a space journey Sunday came back to Beijing Monday morning.
The China Central Television (CCTV) reported that the astronauts, Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, are in good conditions.
After completing China's first human extravehicular activities in space and a few scientific experiments, the team landed Sunday afternoon in north China's Inner Mongolia.
After arriving at the space program headquarters in Beijing's north suburbs, or the space town, the trio spacemen separately rode on three roofless sedans in a miniature parade.
They are expected to undergo two-week preventive quarantine in the medical facilities in the space town.
Although they have passed brief physical checkup soon after their perfect landing, the astronauts are still vulnerable to viruses on the Earth, says medical experts.
Meanwhile, medical experts are going to thoroughly check their physical and mental health.
Since 2003, China has sent a total of six astronauts into space, including the country's first spaceman Yang Liwei, who is now a major general responsible for astronauts' training, and the first pair Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng. Photo73
Chinese taikonauts of Shenzhou-7 space module crew wave to local people who came to see them off in Hohhot, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Sept. 29, 2008. A red-carpet ceremony was held here at 6:30 Monday to send off the three astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng back to Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua Photo74)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery will deliver and install Japan’s massive lab, Kibo, or Hope, at the international space station.
The sons of a Russian cosmonaut and a US astronaut met in space yesterday when spaceman Sergei Volkov welcomed American Richard Garriott on board the International Space Station.
Garriott, a computer game developer who paid $35 million for his trip to space, arrived with two crewmates on board a Soyuz capsule, which docked with the space station two days after blasting off from a launch-pad in Kazakhstan.
After the hatches were opened between the capsule and the station at 9:55 GMT, Volkov, whose cosmonaut father was orbiting the earth in 1991, welcomed Garriott with a hug.
US space agency NASA said they are first children of previous space adventurers to meet in orbit.
Russian television showed Garriott smiling after taking congratulations from friends and family, including his astronaut father Owen, who joked with Alexander Volkov at mission control in Moscow.
Space tourist Garriott, US astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the Kazakh steppe on Sunday.
Fincke will serve as commander of the six-month Expedition 18 mission which will focus on preparing the station to house six crew members on longer-duration missions.
Russian space officials brushed aside reports of problems with a toilet at the station, saying all problems had now been resolved and that there were several reserve systems.
After 10 days in space Garriott will return to Earth with the ISS's outgoing crew aboard a Soyuz re-entry vehicle, a three-person capsule which has malfunctioned on its last two flights.
Here's a look at the six men and one woman who will tackle the job:
Commander Mark KellyKelly married U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., in November.
As for who’s the big shot in the family, Kelly quickly says, “She is.”
The two have invited a number of Washington bigwigs to the shuttle launch, as well as family and friends. Mark Kelly is probably best known for looking and sounding exactly like another astronaut — his identical twin brother, Scott, also a space shuttle skipper — and being married to a congresswoman.This will be the third spaceflight for Kelly, 44, a Navy commander and former test pilot, but his first as commander. NASA picked him as an astronaut in 1996. He flew 39 combat missions in the 1991 Gulf War. Kelly has two daughters, ages 10 and 13, from his previous marriage. He is from West Orange, N.J.
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