Shenzhou-15 manned mission ready for launch after final rehearsal
news.cgtn.com
news.cgtn.com
At some point during the US-Soviet space race?
Pretty cool to think about. Space is hard, so no matter what I’m always going to applaud efforts to get there.
But just as a pedantic note, I really object to calling this China's first space station. The Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 both were just as much a space station as Skylab or a Salyut[1]. The current Tiangong is indeed the first complex, ISS like space-station, of multiple components launched separately, but that's not the same thing as a space station. So I would say that the three previous Chinese flights to Tiangong-1 and -2 (Shenzhou-9, Shenzhou-10, and Shenzhou-11) all should count as the first times that there were two separately crewed space stations in orbit. Obviously, the other station in all three cases was the International Space Station program, which has had people in space continuously since November 1st, 2000 (it is my hope and dream that October 31st of the year 2000 becomes a very important day in human history- that last day that all of humanity was together on the same planet).
[1]: Technically two separate programs, the military OPS and the Civilian DOS programs, but both were the same as far as assembly goes: launched in one piece from a heavy lift rocket.
Both were also only occupied for about 20 days, not far off the longest space shuttle missions.
I think it makes sense to look at them more as orbital testbeds than space stations as such.
There are plenty of renders, but it seems the secretive Chinese Government have not released any photos of either of their stations so far, at least none that I can find in a reasonable time.
Definitely a loss for the history books.
>> Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as a United States Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soviet Soyuz capsule.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%E2%80%93Soyuz#:~:text....
Edit - by comparison, for sibling comment
>> Soyuz 13 (Russian: Союз 13, Union 13) was a December, 1973, Soviet crewed space flight
The first component of the ISS, the Zarya, was launched in November 1998, and the Mir deorbited March 23, 2001, so for that time there were two stations in space, but never manned at the same time.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Module_relocation_with_ro...
> The word “Lyappa” does not exist in Russian. It is probably a corruption of Russian: лапа, romanized: lapa, lit. 'paw'
does not seem to be completely accurate to me, since 'ляпа' is a word in Russian that is pronounced more or less like "lyappa"; The only reason I'm hesitant is that ляпа means blunder or mistake, which would be a rather ominous name to give you a component of your pride-of-the-nation space station. Almost seems like the 'paw' nickname somehow got out to western media, and someone decided to play a little linguistic joke.
China has yet to announce their space station plans for 2023 and beyond, but the Xuntian space telescope that can dock and undock autonomously is under development, and they also plan to bring in astronauts from other countries.
Was under the impression it was on track to be launched mid next year? Will be basically Hubble tier, but with 400x field of vision and easily maintained/upgraded. A huge boon for astronomers worldwide.
Qingming Deng who will be on board the SZ-15 mission has been on training for the past >26 years for this. best wishes for him as he deserves a safe and pleasant 6 months stay in space.
Yes, it is a fun moment if you are into space tech or tech in general. Most people here on HN are the same, they love such stuff. WE love it because WE believe it can make life BETTER - that is not the case in China at the moment. Hundreds of millions are being locked up in China. We are talking about real lives, not some random figures on paper. Talking about paper, do you know the fact that you can now be arrested on the street by simply holding a piece of white paper?
Sorry, but I am not going to celebrate the launch or the completion of the Chinese space station, hundreds of millions Chinese are suffering on the ground.
You can read more about it here:
Russia is abandoning the ISS, China will replace it, we should be thankful, we can continue research and dream about space exploration again
We should also be thankful for all the scientific breakthroughs that will allow humankind to step on the moon for a 2nd time
Mixing up your political agenda with science reminds me of how in the Middle Age, the Church was burning people alive for claiming that Earth was not flat and it rotates around the sun
tell me, when was the last time when US/EU had a significant percentage of their own citizens locked up? talking about hard lock down, back in April/May, we didn't even have food supply when locked up at home. My neighbors were discussing online whether they should dispose their meat already gone bad, I had to share food (from my own very limited stock) with 90 years old living downstairs.
It is not like people don't have food because they didn't work hard or because they chose some funny life style - I am talking about hard working people who worked their ass off but still couldn't get food when they have ton of cash saved.
Here in Shanghai, the restriction is upgraded again today, we now have to have PCR tests every 48 hours. You get yourself tested 3.5 times a week, or you can't even allowed to set foot into a supermarket or restaurant. Again they want cut your food supply because there is COVID.
"Accomplishments of a country"? Sorry, but I didn't see that.
Taking science more seriously and acknowledge the fact that COVID is here to stay would be an accomplishment for the CCP. Taking its own citizens in a more respectful way would be an accomplishment for the CCP. Taking the constitution written by the CCP itself more seriously would be an accomplishment for the CCP.
Yeah, sucks you don't have a choice, but comparing notes with cousins in SH their lockdown experience is about as shit as experiences of some people I know in here in CAN, and on par according to friend went through UAE lockdown earlier then SH. Granted my cousins were well prepared due to advice to stockup from abroad, and of course people in CAN are not forced to do what they do, but merely had to exercise maximum caution due to being part of extra vunerable demographic. Who had to functionally impose harsh self quarantining while covid spreads rampant and seething at unfairness of others breaking basic guidelines while wishing powerless gov could do something about it, because ultimately people don't give a shit about each other when gov doesn't enforce. Personally lived with frontline worker and constantly worrying about their safety and mine for a year+ sucked balls, even after vax because you still risk spreading to others, from family to strangers whose vunerability status you do not know.
Maybe you don't care anymore - most people stopped caring. Low-risk people who just want covid to be "over" are the first ones to move on. Seems like you're a decent person, who shared food with your 90 year old neighbour. You're justifiably frustrated, everyone in my Canadian city was after a year of mild mandates and their first vax shot. But just understand once zero covid breaks, and it will, you're going to have to deal with the anxiety of spreading covid to that neighbour or your loved ones because that's also acknowledging the fact of covid. You're not going to be surrounded by deaths, but statistically and with respect to PRC's med infra, it will likely happen to someone in your extended social circle, and you'll understand exactly how little citizens "respect" each other when left to their own devices. Maybe you'll even be one of the first ones to contract covid and spread covid to people you care about, but likely everyone your age will dodge severe cases. You'll likely still feel a little guilty, but otherwise won't lose sleep over it. Or maybe your accomplishment will be killing that 90 year old downstairs. TBH at this point you're probably fine with that. I convinced myself I was. This isn't meant to be advice or criticism, but something to keep in mind when shit hits fan in the next few months.
It is called rule of nature. With 1.4 billion people and an life expectancy of 77 years, you'd expect 15 million people to pass away each year. At 90 years age with reasonable medical care, if some elderly who still couldn't make it to the other end of the COVID, that sad fact is just a part of normal life on earth. There are seasonal flus every single year, that kills 90 years old folks on daily basis. It is a sad reality everyone have to accept.
Eh, this is a mission being launched by the same Chinese state that's being protested. Apollo-era aerospace history commonly touches on the concurrent civil rights movement because they had a common political nexus.
Also, to the extent there is non-technical commentary in the top comments on this thread, it's yours.
This is why we talk about it.