China's manned space flight program.

[vee4473]

china will, like all other communist states, find that all they can do is keep up... and in the end fall.

[Sava]

no because Ronald Reagan isn't around to make them bankrupt their economy by building tens of thousands of nukes...

[vee4473]

no, because shackling your citizen's under a rifle and fear isn't going to bring out their and yor country's best.

[Verto]

Originally posted by Sava
no because Ronald Reagan isn't around to make them bankrupt their economy by building tens of thousands of nukes...

How dare he!

[Sava]

Originally posted by vee4473
no, because shackling your citizen's under a rifle and fear isn't going to bring out their and yor country's best.

economic slavery in a trickle up system does??

How dare he!

you'll be saying that if a Russian made nuke goes off in a US city... god forbid...

[Dinner]

Originally posted by C0ckney
a haircut costs 25 quid i america, do they use gold scissors or something?

and i'm all for sending the chinese leadership into space, and leaving them there

I pay $9 plus a $2 tip.

[PLATO]

Sava, You crack me up!!

Uh, hello ... China already has ICBMS (albeit old ones) and China is already one of the world's leaders for launching satellites. They even launch them for US corps.

Yes they have 54. None of the current 54 they have are capable of reaching all parts of the United States. They are currently upgrading all of them (with the "new" technolgy they "aquired") so that they will be able to hit any point in the world. China's problem was never the boost phase to orbit, but rather the tech to effectively guide a rocket.

[mindseye]

I got a haircut yesterday for $14.

Well, I wasn't counting that place at the bus station.

edit: spelling

[mindseye]

they have 54. None of the current 54 they have are capable of reaching all parts of the United States.

Good enough for deterrent's sake!

[mindseye]

Originally posted by vee4473
china will, like all other communist states, find that all they can do is keep up... and in the end fall.

Gee, that's nice, except for two little problems:
(a) Do you really think contemporary China is "communist"?
(b) Do you really think China (politically, economically, socially, etc) is like any other country in the world?

Other than those two little problems, you're spot-on, mate!

Originally posted by vee4473
no, because shackling your citizen's under a rifle and fear isn't going to bring out their and yor country's best.

Are you trying to talk about China again? If you are, it sure doesn't sound like the China I live in. I can't even recall the last time I actually saw a soldier, much less a rifle. Far fewer cops than in the US, too (and the ones you do see are usually directing traffic).

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by mindseye

If you can launch a spacecraft like this you're not far from a real ICBM.

They already have ICBMs (albeit relatively old ones) capable fo striking the US.

Thanks again Bill for supporting the Chinese "space program"

Nice try, but the USSR/Russia was/is far, far more influential on the PRC's space program than anything they gained dring the Clinton admin.

Plato already correctly answered the first part (and after a little thought the second part).

[Dinner]

So does China copying a Russian rocket design still constitute a major advancement in Chinese Aerospace?

[mindseye]

So does China copying a Russian rocket design still constitute a major advancement in Chinese Aerospace?

What, are you kidding? There's a lot more to spaceflight than just manufacturing some sophisticated hardware (no small feat in itself).

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by mindseye
What, are you kidding? There's a lot more to spaceflight than just manufacturing some sophisticated hardware (no small feat in itself).

Yeah!

Sheesh, haven't these people played Civ?

[Curiosity]

Originally posted by MikeH
Getting astronauts there is easy. Getting them there and having them not die rapidly because of radiation damage and preventing the huge muscle and bone wastage that they'd suffer on the journey, so that they could actually function on a return to the Earth are the difficult bits.

Dammnit; seems like every time I poke my nose into the OT someone is trotting out this line. I should save a response to it.

The radiation on a flight to Mars would be bad for you; but in much the same sense as smoking is bad for you, not in the sense that you would die horribly on the way. The levels just aren't that bad, perhaps excepting during sunspots, when you would retreat into a radiation shelter for a day or so.

Muscle wastage is a problem when you are off earth for a couple of years, and it requires some adjustment when you come back. But don't forget that Polyakov walked away from his capsule after 18 months in zero-g. The astronauts would be spending much of their time in 1/3-g, so their difficulties shouldn't be much worse than that.

I can't see any insurmountable barriers to going to Mars, other than lack of the will to do so.