China just launched its first manned space mission

[freegeeks]

the ignorance in this thread is staggering

I applaud the Chinese for what they did. I don't like their govt. but I think it's ubercool what they did.

the ESA should have the balls to do the same.

we have the money and the technology. Now our politicians should grow a pair of balls and start an European man-in-space program

 

[MikeO]

Originally posted by: paulney

Originally posted by: WinstonSmith

Originally posted by: Spoooon
Somehow, instead of this being a "Good going China" thread, it turned into "so what?" and "China hasn't contributed anything to the world" thread.

Many Americans do that.

"I live in America. Your country sucks".

Not everyone is like that, but more than enough.

That's actually true of any nationality. I have yet to see a country where people do not take pride of living in it.

It's two different things to be proud of your country and bashing every other country in the world.

 

[BadNewsBears]

Originally posted by: SONYFX

Originally posted by: TheBDB

Originally posted by: MaxFusion16
you guys can make fun of China all you want, but just for your information, it was the Chinese that invented the compass, gun powder, and paper.

What have they done in the last thousand years?

They have been technological superior for 2000 years.

Maybe you aren't so bright with history.

During Ming dynasty China has a navy fleet of 600+ war ships, more than the world combined at the time, they could have taken over the world. But Europe was so backward that China didn't even bother looking at them. Even today America's navy fleet is only around 300.

300 ships that would own about 1000

 

[AnitaPeterson]

The sooner we firmly establish human presence on other worlds the better. I don't care whether that presence is mainly Caucasian, Asian or whatever, and I don't care what language they speak or whether they have any particular religion or no religion at all. What matters is that once Homo Sapiens gets loose in the Universe, the chances to disappear as a civilisation diminish greatly, and one day, many centuries from now, Wan Ho, Robin Hood and Gagarin will seem to have lived at the same time to our grand...grandchildren.

And by the way, freegeeks, that's a sad and scary sig you have there...

 

[Wuffsunie]

Woot! Finally, someone is getting their damned act together, getting us the hell off this rock! More power to them, I say.

IMO, the most triagic event of the 20th century was that we made it to the moon... and then went the fvck home. Seriously. We're supposed to be building to better and greater things, and while that's happened 99.9999% of the time on a global scale through history, this was the most massive backslide. If we had kept up that progress, we would have damned lunar colonies and orbital hotels by now!! Clarke was not that optimistic in terms of technological predictions. During my lifetime we went from the V2 Rocket to the Saturn V! Yet in the time I've been on this miserable ball of mud mankind has been stuck right alongside me. There has been a whopping ZERO in terms of progress in the space race ever since the shuttle came around. It's stagnant and dead. Let's hope that the Chinese have the willingness to do something about that.

I've had my fill of war, hate, and debauchery. Now I want the stars, damn it!

-- Jack

The meek shall inherit the earth. The rest of us are going to the stars.
-- Anonymous

 

[MaxFusion16]

Originally posted by: Wuffsunie
Woot! Finally, someone is getting their damned act together, getting us the hell off this rock! More power to them, I say.

IMO, the most triagic event of the 20th century was that we made it to the moon... and then went the fvck home. Seriously. We're supposed to be building to better and greater things, and while that's happened 99.9999% of the time on a global scale through history, this was the most massive backslide. If we had kept up that progress, we would have damned lunar colonies and orbital hotels by now!! Clarke was not that optimistic in terms of technological predictions. During my lifetime we went from the V2 Rocket to the Saturn V! Yet in the time I've been on this miserable ball of mud mankind has been stuck right alongside me. There has been a whopping ZERO in terms of progress in the space race ever since the shuttle came around. It's stagnant and dead. Let's hope that the Chinese have the willingness to do something about that.

I've had my fill of war, hate, and debauchery. Now I want the stars, damn it!

-- Jack

The meek shall inherit the earth. The rest of us are going to the stars.
-- Anonymous

well said

 

[wyvrn]

Agree. Congrats to China for making some progress and bringing a positive image to their country. I am sure the Chinese are a proud, great people and have a lot to offer the rest of the world once their govt. issues get straightened out.

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Cliff's Note version:

China bought a part or two from Russia, then reverse engineered some systems to mate up with those parts. Impressive I suppose...but not like they developed everything from scratch like the USSR & USA had to do. Glad to see someone else getting into space...but I still don't see this as being anywhere on par with what the USSR & USA did.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: illusion88

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: jumpr
Wow, China is doing what we did 45 years ago. Communism ROCKS!!

In the macroview of history, 45 years isn't more than a little over a generation. When you have historical events that usually took places hundreds or even thousands of years apart, people in the future are goign to be looking back at this as a 'race'. But i guess for people that live in the world of 30 seconds attention span, this might not seem like an accomplishment at all.

Well then China Deffiently lost that one.

If you think it's over maybe. Being the first to space may be a big accomplishment now, but history may look at who best exploited space. Russia has pretty much given up on it, US has stalled, and even backtracked from the last shuttle incident, China is the only nation forging ahead. Like i said, to you 40 years may seem like a lot, but considering that things in the past had timespan of hundreds or even thousands of years, this is nothing but a drop in the bucket.

 

[tnitsuj]

Originally posted by: TheBDB

Originally posted by: SONYFX

Originally posted by: TheBDB

Originally posted by: MaxFusion16
you guys can make fun of China all you want, but just for your information, it was the Chinese that invented the compass, gun powder, and paper.

What have they done in the last thousand years?

They have been technological superior for 2000 years.

Maybe you aren't so bright with history.

During Ming dynasty China has a navy fleet of 600+ war ships, more than the world combined at the time, they could have taken over the world. But Europe was so backward that China didn't even bother looking at them. Even today America's navy fleet is only around 300.

LOL you are hilarious. WTF are you talking about??

American children. So uneducated. The Chinese did have a great navy (ships that dwarfed anything Europe would produce until the 1900s), which set out on a huge expedition that some say reached the Americas. Then when it came back to China they took it apart and never went anywhere again afterwards.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: alphatarget1

Originally posted by: SONYFX

Originally posted by: TheBDB

Originally posted by: MaxFusion16
you guys can make fun of China all you want, but just for your information, it was the Chinese that invented the compass, gun powder, and paper.

What have they done in the last thousand years?

They have been technological superior for 2000 years.

Maybe you aren't so bright with history.

During Ming dynasty China has a navy fleet of 600+ war ships, more than the world combined at the time, they could have taken over the world. But Europe was so backward that China didn't even bother looking at them. Even today America's navy fleet is only around 300.

ming dynasty is one of china's weakest dynasty.

You know nothing about Chinese history if you think the Ming dynasty was one of the weakest. It was one of the most powerful. Well, i guess it depends on what you consider powerful. Did they expand their territory? No, but they didn't want to. How many nations has ever been wealthy enough to send hundreds of ships out to the world, not to conquer, but to show off their wealth and discover what the rest of the world was like? (and they certainly had the power to conqueor, no single force even equaled half of what China could have mustered). They became the 'sleeping' nation, because they withdrew from world affairs, and believed they were superior to all others (not worth conquering).

part of the reason why china hasn't grown into a superpower like japan is the way the government works. emperors wanted to keep people stupid so that they could stay in power (something like that). As someone mentioned it already, china emphasized too much on literature and people didn't really care about science until these couple of decades.

It has NOTHING to do with emphasis on literature, but on the type of economy. Time and time again, we see that a free market economy allows people to be more creative and inventive. Why bother 'trying' when you can't get rich off what you do.

and then they had the nationalist government after the ching dynasty collapsed... which was also corrupted and brought tyranny. commies promised change, and they took over. the commies were just as bad(if not worse) as the nationalists. The Nationalists moved to Taiwan and then they ran a pretty oppressive government until the 70s i believe.

Well, this is very subjective. But if you actually read any history that was a little more than superficial, you would know that even though there were A LOT of disasters with communism, it wasn't malicious like Stalin was. The great famines were due to changes that happened too quickly (and not as efficiently as they thought), but it certainly wasn't purposeful.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: wyvrn
Agree. Congrats to China for making some progress and bringing a positive image to their country. I am sure the Chinese are a proud, great people and have a lot to offer the rest of the world once their govt. issues get straightened out.

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Cliff's Note version:

China bought a part or two from Russia, then reverse engineered some systems to mate up with those parts. Impressive I suppose...but not like they developed everything from scratch like the USSR & USA had to do. Glad to see someone else getting into space...but I still don't see this as being anywhere on par with what the USSR & USA did.

Why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to??? Do you expect every new technological development to be created purely from scratch? That people shouldn't use available technology and work upon them?

 

[UlricT]

I really do not understand how people can ridicule China. Sending a man into space is simply a first step, and they seem to have taken that with formidable speed. They have never claimed that their only goal is to put a man in space. A lunar colony within a decade will be nothing to scoff at!

I would have thought that even though this forum is populated mostly by Americans, the people here have enough sense to realise that America is just on top of things for the present. China seems to be heading in the right direction, and this IS because of the government. I DO NOT endorse the way they supress civil rights or anything, but the PRC has emerged as a superpower. (The "quasi-" part of how they are described now will not last much longer.) Unless the PRC is pulled into the International Space Station, there will be little the American govt. can do to control where China heads.

 

[bolido2000]

The level of ignorance of some people is just astonishing.
Congratulations to China for what they did.
They are very likely to become a superpower because things they are doing right now are heading that way. People have always considered China the next superpower becuase it had potential. Now things are materializing.

 

[RabidMongoose]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: wyvrn
Agree. Congrats to China for making some progress and bringing a positive image to their country. I am sure the Chinese are a proud, great people and have a lot to offer the rest of the world once their govt. issues get straightened out.

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Cliff's Note version:

China bought a part or two from Russia, then reverse engineered some systems to mate up with those parts. Impressive I suppose...but not like they developed everything from scratch like the USSR & USA had to do. Glad to see someone else getting into space...but I still don't see this as being anywhere on par with what the USSR & USA did.

Why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to??? Do you expect every new technological development to be created purely from scratch? That people shouldn't use available technology and work upon them?

If you're talking about the quote, then I agree with him. It's not on par with what the US did years ago. Sure, it's pointless to reinvent the wheel, but why not give credit to the peson who invented the wheel?

That being said, good for China as I've already said before. As an interesting side observation, it seems that most people that are saying China is going to take over the US are Asian in origin, judging from the last names in the profiles.

 

[shiner]

Yeah....yeah....yeah....China is going to rule the world someday....this is just the beginning that will lead to the whole Yangs v Comms war like on the original Star Trek.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: RabidMongoose

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: wyvrn
Agree. Congrats to China for making some progress and bringing a positive image to their country. I am sure the Chinese are a proud, great people and have a lot to offer the rest of the world once their govt. issues get straightened out.

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Cliff's Note version:

China bought a part or two from Russia, then reverse engineered some systems to mate up with those parts. Impressive I suppose...but not like they developed everything from scratch like the USSR & USA had to do. Glad to see someone else getting into space...but I still don't see this as being anywhere on par with what the USSR & USA did.

Why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to??? Do you expect every new technological development to be created purely from scratch? That people shouldn't use available technology and work upon them?

If you're talking about the quote, then I agree with him. It's not on par with what the US did years ago. Sure, it's pointless to reinvent the wheel, but why not give credit to the peson who invented the wheel?

What have you been reading that has indicated they've stolen all the recognition? You're just assuming. I haven't heard either, but i'm not so ignorant to think the first of anything is all that matters. It's the end that's most important and most recognized.

That being said, good for China as I've already said before. As an interesting side observation, it seems that most people that are saying China is going to take over the US are Asian in origin, judging from the last names in the profiles.

Why is that interesting? Is that as interesting to say that all those who are defensive over what China have done been the Americans here? If you looked at the first 20 years of the space race, people would have assumed Russia has 'won'. But then if you looked at the last 40 years, it's clearly the Americans who 'won'. But the Americans have stalled their space program, while the Chinese are moving ahead with theirs. Who's to say what this will look like in 20-40 years? China has 4 times the population of the US. China is a secondary nation atm, because the average income is only about 1/10 that of the US. But what if in 20 years, the average Chinese income was 1/2 that of the average American... that would mean the Chinese economy would be twice as powerful as that of the US. And if their income ever matched the US, it would mean they would be 4x as powerful as the US economy. Include the fact that they have neighbors like Russia (250 million people), India (over a billion), and other nations that can be reached by freight train or a short ship ride (Japan), there's a very good chance in 50-100 years China's economy would dwarf that of the US.

 

[duke]

Can't we all just celebrate this as a human achievement and leave nationalism at the launchpad?

 

[RabidMongoose]

I'm not saying that they stole anything, just that doing the same thing 40 years earlier would be more of an accomplishment. What China did is still great. Stop being so defensive. Sure, the end is more important, but looking at it right now, you can still comment about it. We're talking about one stage of the 'space race', not the whole thing. A stage that has now bee accomplished by three nations. We can comment on it. Stop being so defensive about everything and trying to put words into my mouth.

I think it was an interesting side observation, personally. You shouldn't be so defensive again.

 

[CanOWorms]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: RabidMongoose

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: wyvrn
Agree. Congrats to China for making some progress and bringing a positive image to their country. I am sure the Chinese are a proud, great people and have a lot to offer the rest of the world once their govt. issues get straightened out.

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Cliff's Note version:

China bought a part or two from Russia, then reverse engineered some systems to mate up with those parts. Impressive I suppose...but not like they developed everything from scratch like the USSR & USA had to do. Glad to see someone else getting into space...but I still don't see this as being anywhere on par with what the USSR & USA did.

Why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to??? Do you expect every new technological development to be created purely from scratch? That people shouldn't use available technology and work upon them?

If you're talking about the quote, then I agree with him. It's not on par with what the US did years ago. Sure, it's pointless to reinvent the wheel, but why not give credit to the peson who invented the wheel?

What have you been reading that has indicated they've stolen all the recognition? You're just assuming. I haven't heard either, but i'm not so ignorant to think the first of anything is all that matters. It's the end that's most important and most recognized.

That being said, good for China as I've already said before. As an interesting side observation, it seems that most people that are saying China is going to take over the US are Asian in origin, judging from the last names in the profiles.

Why is that interesting? Is that as interesting to say that all those who are defensive over what China have done been the Americans here? If you looked at the first 20 years of the space race, people would have assumed Russia has 'won'. But then if you looked at the last 40 years, it's clearly the Americans who 'won'. But the Americans have stalled their space program, while the Chinese are moving ahead with theirs. Who's to say what this will look like in 20-40 years? China has 4 times the population of the US. China is a secondary nation atm, because the average income is only about 1/10 that of the US. But what if in 20 years, the average Chinese income was 1/2 that of the average American... that would mean the Chinese economy would be twice as powerful as that of the US. And if their income ever matched the US, it would mean they would be 4x as powerful as the US economy. Include the fact that they have neighbors like Russia (250 million people), India (over a billion), and other nations that can be reached by freight train or a short ship ride (Japan), there's a very good chance in 50-100 years China's economy would dwarf that of the US.

Why do people keep saying that the US has stalled its space program? There is more to a space program than sending manned missions into space.

We'll just have to wait for the future In the 80s everone said that Japan would rule the world. Now look where they are. Also, you talk about Russia and India's economic influence. I'm not sure of Russia, but I know India doesn't have particularly good relations with China. That might actually be a negative influence on China's growth.

 

[incallisto]

Originally posted by: MaxFusion16

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: MaxFusion16

Originally posted by: jumpr
Wow, China is doing what we did 45 years ago. Communism ROCKS!!

we may be behind, but we surely are catching up, China is an emerging world power.

we? It says you live in New York.

I'm still Chinese regardless of my physical location.

TRAITOR!

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
I'm not saying that they stole anything, just that doing the same thing 40 years earlier solely on one's own would be more of an accomplishment. What China did is still great. Stop being so defensive. Sure, the end is more important, but looking at it right now, you can still comment about it. We're talking about one stage of the 'space race', not the whole thing. A stage that has now bee accomplished by three nations. We can comment on it. Stop being so defensive about everything and trying to put words into my mouth.

I think it was an interesting side observation, personally. You shouldn't be so defensive again.

You're the one that was being defensive. I'm just arguing on the points of your ignorance. You're saying they should give recognition... recognition to who and for what? China launches satellites into space cheaper than both the US and Europeans. True, part of it is due to the cheaper labour, but when you're talking about things as technogically advanced as this, the labour isn't that much cheaper... if they didn't pay these workers as well as other nations could, they would lose them.

Of course the US is technologically superior to China atm... FAR FAR superior. I'm certainly not saying this single trip to space puts them in the same league with the US, which sends people up there several times a year (well use to). But their space program will definitely give them technological advancements, as well as some military payoffs.

Again, what is the problem here? 40 years difference is a very miniscule number when you're looking at any other of human achievement. That they're not giving recognition to the Americans or Russians? Again i ask, what are you reading that i'm not that is saying they haven't given recognitions?

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: CanOWorms

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: RabidMongoose

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: wyvrn
Agree. Congrats to China for making some progress and bringing a positive image to their country. I am sure the Chinese are a proud, great people and have a lot to offer the rest of the world once their govt. issues get straightened out.

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Cliff's Note version:

China bought a part or two from Russia, then reverse engineered some systems to mate up with those parts. Impressive I suppose...but not like they developed everything from scratch like the USSR & USA had to do. Glad to see someone else getting into space...but I still don't see this as being anywhere on par with what the USSR & USA did.

Why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to??? Do you expect every new technological development to be created purely from scratch? That people shouldn't use available technology and work upon them?

If you're talking about the quote, then I agree with him. It's not on par with what the US did years ago. Sure, it's pointless to reinvent the wheel, but why not give credit to the peson who invented the wheel?

What have you been reading that has indicated they've stolen all the recognition? You're just assuming. I haven't heard either, but i'm not so ignorant to think the first of anything is all that matters. It's the end that's most important and most recognized.

That being said, good for China as I've already said before. As an interesting side observation, it seems that most people that are saying China is going to take over the US are Asian in origin, judging from the last names in the profiles.

Why is that interesting? Is that as interesting to say that all those who are defensive over what China have done been the Americans here? If you looked at the first 20 years of the space race, people would have assumed Russia has 'won'. But then if you looked at the last 40 years, it's clearly the Americans who 'won'. But the Americans have stalled their space program, while the Chinese are moving ahead with theirs. Who's to say what this will look like in 20-40 years? China has 4 times the population of the US. China is a secondary nation atm, because the average income is only about 1/10 that of the US. But what if in 20 years, the average Chinese income was 1/2 that of the average American... that would mean the Chinese economy would be twice as powerful as that of the US. And if their income ever matched the US, it would mean they would be 4x as powerful as the US economy. Include the fact that they have neighbors like Russia (250 million people), India (over a billion), and other nations that can be reached by freight train or a short ship ride (Japan), there's a very good chance in 50-100 years China's economy would dwarf that of the US.

Why do people keep saying that the US has stalled its space program? There is more to a space program than sending manned missions into space.

If you think just sending satellites into space is a space program, then ok. Personally i think setting up colonies or some sort of more permanent presence in space is more important. And THAT has stalled since the shuttle incident.

We'll just have to wait for the future In the 80s everone said that Japan would rule the world.

Did you even grow up in the 80s? I don't remember that. Japan had a strong economy, but militarily, they're not. And they had a non-existant space program.

Now look where they are. Also, you talk about Russia and India's economic influence. I'm not sure of Russia, but I know India doesn't have particularly good relations with China. That might actually be a negative influence on China's growth.

Do you even know what you're talking about? They have heavy trading relationships with both Russia and India. Of course with India they're buying more than selling, but that's not a big surprise. Are you aware that India was one of the nations that wanted China in the WTO?

 

[SackOfAllTrades]

Originally posted by: duke
Can't we all just celebrate this as a human achievement and leave nationalism at the launchpad?

Sadly, no. It seems Chinese government and culture is the new race for Americans to make fun of. So many excuses to make racist remarks.
"It's ok though, they're communist."
"It's ok though, I love their people...hahah did the Chinese astronaut pack his kung pao lunch?"
"It's ok though, they are a minority, but they are somewhat successful in America, so we can make fun of them all day and it won't be racist..."

and it will only get worse and worse.

 

[wyvrn]

Not talking about reinventing anything. China did what they needed to do. But this accomplishment is not the same as the Americans and Russians pioneering their way to space with NOTHING to base their efforts on other than the will to win. China I am sure is capable of this as well, and this is not a knock on anything Chinese. Just a truthful statement, you have to take it for what it is.

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: wyvrn
Agree. Congrats to China for making some progress and bringing a positive image to their country. I am sure the Chinese are a proud, great people and have a lot to offer the rest of the world once their govt. issues get straightened out.

Originally posted by: shinerburke

Cliff's Note version:

China bought a part or two from Russia, then reverse engineered some systems to mate up with those parts. Impressive I suppose...but not like they developed everything from scratch like the USSR & USA had to do. Glad to see someone else getting into space...but I still don't see this as being anywhere on par with what the USSR & USA did.

Why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to??? Do you expect every new technological development to be created purely from scratch? That people shouldn't use available technology and work upon them?

 

[gopunk]

I've been to China and Taiwan, I see big difference.... If ROC had won its civil war, perhaps they would've launched that rocket years ago, with American design instead of USSR influcence.

really, because i've been to both too, and the metropolitan areas are not all that different. in fact i would argue that some parts of china are probably more advanced than taiwan.