Chinese Crew Blasts Off for Space Mission

[GePap]

Originally posted by Cyclotron


Huh? I'm well aware of good, solid Russian space technology. All I'm pointing out is that, since the Russians never went to the moon, let alone mars, using Russian technology will only get one so far. Once they start planning their moon mission they will only have Russian prototypes and such to back them up, not real solid equipment. They'll have to start being inventive, and that what's not been seen yet.

As was already said, the US did this in 1969, and the Russian/Soviets could have definitelly done it had they wanted to spend the resources, but once the US did it, the point of manned moon landings for purely prestige reasons died.

I also have no doubt that the Chinese can more than adequately come up with the technology and equipment. Again, it is purely an issue of resources-the willingness to spend that kind of money (expecting significant budget overruns, cause these things never come in on budget). After all, its not like China is ahead of say Japan, but Japan has never put a man in space, China now has put three.

[Ecthy]

This time the question is who will be to Mars first.

[Whoha]

Well, so far the US has been the only country to ever land anything on mars period, so I'd say we have a good head start.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Spiffor
If the US and China get into a dick contest to know who will reach Mars first, it'll mean dramatic technological progress for space travel, most notably propulsion. Simply because there'll be an incentive to research it

It's sad that some can't see beyond their narrow minded view as to the benefits and greatness such programs have yielded. A great number of technologies came from the space program (a number of computer advances and water purification systems are a few things that came out of NASA's research) and the moon landing brought humanity together.

[DanS]

Oh, kumbaya!

That's a lot of clams for a little togetherness!

(And the technologies argument doesn't really cut it as a primary factor; it's a similarly bad argument that the defense R&D folks make.)

[DanS]

Originally posted by Geronimo
it's appalling to imagine that for the cost of the Iraq war we could have funded fully half the total costs of an endevour as immense and unprecedented as the Apollo program was.

You must not pay income taxes or something. That's the only way that I can explain this attitude.

And just so that we're clear, this a per-year thing. The Apollo program on an ongoing basis cost 2x the Iraq War operations on an ongoing basis. And the Apollo program lasted more than 10 years.

[Imran Siddiqui]

And just so that we're clear, this a per-year thing. The Apollo program on an ongoing basis cost 2x the Iraq War operations on an ongoing basis. And the Apollo program lasted more than 10 years.

And it was actually worth it... while the Iraq war... well, we're not sure.

Eventually we'll have to colonize the heavens... and eventually Iraq will have a civil war

[DanS]

Even if it was worth it, some here are arguing that we should have continued the program at its height in order to get more propulsion technologies. The kumbaya and basic tech were already purchased. I was implying that they maybe didn't have a feel for the magnitude of what they were suggesting.

[Whoha]

how much would it be in comparison to non-discretionary spending?

[FrostyBoy]

Let the Chinese do what they want, at least they are trying and the Chinese people don't seem to mind.

Who cares who does what first, just get it done so that I can buy a spaceship and fly outta here one day.

[DaShi]

Sure they can send a man to space, but they can't make (actually sell here, since the goods are all exported) a decent pair of socks.

That's less funny with the disclaimer.

[KrazyHorse]

Somebody needs to get going and push a Ni-Fe asteroid and a water-ice comet into HE orbit to get the first useful space station started.

Until then space flight will remain an overly expensive oddity instead of a broadly-beneficial part of our economy.

The only one I can see putting down the initial capital outlay for that is the government.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Cyclotron
Additionally, you forget that this Chinese launch is basically off all Russian equipment and technology - they have not yet proven the ability to innovate in the field of space technology at all.

I don't see any evidence that the Long March series of rockets are "off Russian equipment and technology." Neither are the Shenzhou series of space capsules.

[DanS]

Ni-Fe asteroid

What would this be good for?

[Sandman]

Slinging asteroids into Earth orbit strikes me as pretty dangerous. The physics are simple enough, but the technology isn't.