China just launched its first manned space mission

[LongCoolMother]

Originally posted by: 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.

its true. the urban areas of china are a lot nicer than the ones in taiwan from what i remember. at least, thats the way it is the last time i went to taiwan (10 years ago) in taipei. recently, i went to china (1 year ago, and 2 years ago). shanghai, hong kong, beijing, etc. large cities were amazing. the skyscrapers and skylines were marvelous, and the city itself looked very very nice+modern. kind of like atlanta. shanghai was like a colorful neon central san francisco, except much larger, and more "new" looking.

 

[CanOWorms]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

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?

Yes, I grew up in the 80s. Seriously, everyone in the 80s said that. It was in the politics, even entertainment, etc. You don't know what you're talking about. Japan has a military, Japan has a space program. They've been sending up rockets and such for a pretty long time, definitely before the 80s, maybe even before the 70s.

Jesus, the space shuttle blew up! Do you think it's ok to fly another one the next day without fixing it? Didn't they say it should be ok to fly in 2004? The space program is way way more than just manned flight, rockets for satellites, etc. There are also probes, propulsion systems, materials, etc. Everything which must also be researched for manned expeditions or whatever else you want. This shouldn't be too hard of a concept. We have the international space station up there, too.

Trust me, I've been to India. The general public doesn't think of China as a friend. Some of them view China as the main "enemy", even over Pakistan. Talking as if they're going to be buddy-buddy is kind of ridiculous. It's going to be interesting with both of these emerging powers right next to each other with Russia there, too.

 

[UlricT]

Trust me, I've been to India. The general public doesn't think of China as a friend. Some of them view China as the main "enemy", even over Pakistan. Talking as if they're going to be buddy-buddy is kind of ridiculous. It's going to be interesting with both of these emerging powers right next to each other with Russia there, too.

Well, I do not know which part of India YOU visited, but I can say for a fact that Pakistan is sadly considered public enemy no. 1 in India. I DO NOT endorse that belief, but that is how it is. Although India DID have a border war with China in 1962(?), the relations between the two countries are almost cordial compared the relationship between India and Pakistan.

China has huge trade relations with India, and is agressively marketing all their products so that Indian brands cannot compete. Even Indian manufacturing companies are setting up factories in China for the cheaper labor! So, the only threat seen from China is an economic one.

To get back on topic, there have been rumors of India planning some kind of manned mission. That is not Entirely true. In his independence day speech, Vajpayee announced that an Indian satellite would be orbiting the moon by 2008. According to the ISRO chief scientist, no manned missions are planned. India HAS been testing a re-entry vehicle, which COULD be used for manned missions.

 

[RabidMongoose]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

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?

WTF are you talking about? Again, stop putting words in my mouth. Again, all I was saying is what the Americans did 40 years ago is more impressive. Not any of this 'wah wah wah you are ignorant b/c I don't know what to say' crap that you're spewing. Again, I'm not saying that books and everyone needs to say and run around with posters saying 'Hey let's give more recognition to the Americans and Russians', but that doing something 40 years ago and being the pioneers is more impressive under this circumstance.