China launches astronauts into space (Shenzhou-11 Live Stream)

[alcoholbob]

Link here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuzZYzSoEEU

Looks like China's march into space continues. Some Russian cosmonauts have stated they believe China will reach Mars before the U.S. It certainly seems likely given how messy the SLS planning/funding currently is, and the next president could cancel the program and we could be back at square one, ala Constellation. Any thoughts?

 

[Darwin333]

Maybe when they start launching more often we can see about getting a cheaper deal to send our astronauts up to the ISS, you know, since we don't have the ability to send people into even low earth orbit anymore...

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Did they steal the plans from and knock-off US rockets or did they steal the plans from and knock-off Russian rockets?

 

[alcoholbob]

Did they steal the plans from and knock-off US rockets or did they steal the plans from and knock-off Russian rockets?

Assuming you could actually build a rocket by simply "stealing" plans, seems like an intellectual IP argument isn't it? People who believe in the pure free market should support that since anyone can make an idea and decide not to ever take it to market. If they stole the idea, great! They're actually building the damn thing. If the world was IP absolutist we'd still be litigating about who first came up with the idea of a computer or cell phone and courts wouldn't allow anyone to sell one on the marketplace.

 

[Eug]

Did they steal the plans from and knock-off US rockets or did they steal the plans from and knock-off Russian rockets?

If you're an American CEO or an American lawmaker and believe just that then you're at risk of causing your country to fall behind. China has some of the best engineering minds in the world now, and now actually has the money to back them. Furthermore, they're buying foreign companies (and IP) left and right, and often strategically.

BTW, people may disagree with this list (below), but just the fact that article even exists is a testament to just how remarkable the progress has been for China in the last 30 years.

US News: Best Global Universities for Engineering (2016)

1. Tsinghua University
2. MIT
3. University of California - Berkley
4. Zhejiang University
5. Nanyang Technological University

Yes, US News rates a Chinese school over MIT for engineering, and two of the top 5 in the world are in China, with #5 in Singapore.