China inches closer to manned space mission

The People’s Republic of China is getting ready to send it’s first takionaut into space.

“Barring major technical issues and inclement weather, the historic Shenzhou V mission would likely be launched between October 11 and 17,” Wen Wei Po reported.

Shenzhou in Chinese means ‘divine vessel’ or ‘magic vessel’.

Whenever Shenzhou V roars into space it will be perched atop a Long March 2F rocket, and is likely to feature three modules from front to end — an orbital module holding science equipment; the crew-carrying ascent/decent module; and a service module with attached solar panels loaded with electronics gear and rocket engines.

China has so far tested four unmanned spacecrafts from late 1999 into early 2003.

In the grand scheme of things, this is a non-event. Anyone can send a payload into space, be it materials, satellites, dogs, monkeys, or human beings. The real trick is to get a permanent presence up there. . . like mining the Moon or beating the United States to Mars or something. Now that would be an accomplishment!