China refreshes crew of its 'Celestial Palace' space station

Three taikonauts have successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and are on their way to the Tiangong space station. The mission crew was only announced yesterday, and is made up of experienced taikonaut Cai Xuzhe, 48, and two relative beginners: former Air Force pilot Song Lingdong, 34, and Wang Haoze, 34 …

[Neil Barnes]

travel in deep space and wave at the stars

A laudable ambition (which I share) but I am prepared for disappointment, if the stars don't wave back.

[BartyFartsLast]

Re: travel in deep space and wave at the stars

I'd be more worried if they did

[Neil Barnes]

Re: travel in deep space and wave at the stars

“And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

Neitzche

[Bebu]

Re: travel in deep space and wave at the stars

“And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” Neitzche

Given his life history one might suspect: he did and the abyss obliged.

The poor bugger really was away with the pixies and completely gaga at the end.

There is something Lovecraftian about mindless eyes gazing out of the abyss...

[Doctor Syntax]

Refreshes crew? It sounds like they've sent up a couple of crates of ->

[Bebu]

Must have been looking the other way

First time I have encountered taikonaut for a PRC astronaut. Seems a peculiar coinage: the taiko part is apparently Chinese (Mandarin) for "space" and the nauta part from the Greek for "sailor." Given that astro and cosmo are also both from Greek and I would also hazard that Mandarin has a word for a sailor, I wonder why not use a fully Mandarin coinage?

I also note that India have vyomanauts but probably less discordant as Sanskrit probably has some prototypical form of naut given Greek and Sanskrit are members of the same language family.

Despite Bill Nelson's sabre rattling I don't think that any nation in the foreseeable future and much longer, could build a lunar facility that could forcibly maintain a territorial claim to the moon. A lunar base is just too vulnerable to the forces of nature let alone the hostile actions of an adversary. You would need to maintain superiority above the moon from a fleet of orbiting stations and if you could do that then you could just as easily do the same above the earth to blockade your adversaries.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: Must have been looking the other way

To quote the late great RAH: you can always throw rocks.

[EricB123]

It's Good to Have Adversaries

I mean it. If it weren't for Russia, that the USA wouldn't have much of a civilian space program. Then once the moon was "conquered", the funding ran out.

China to the rescue! "Houston, we have funding once again."

[STOP_FORTH]

Trivial pursuit

Fair's fair, surely the PRC are entitled to a quarter of the Moon? India could probably claim 26%.

Who said the US gets the biggest piece of cheese?

Man in the Moon is sad. Jade rabbit is happy.

[ravenviz]

Here, as I am, sitting in “the West” I hear very little about the Chinese space programme.

Reading the Wikipedia page, achievements so far are nothing less than impressive.

Since “China's incentive to build its own space station was amplified after US Congress prohibited NASA from any direct engagement & cooperation with CNSA”, it looks like they have carried on quite nicely, thank you, possibly even better than if they actually had engaged with NASA.

Come on Western media, more about the Chinese space programme please!