Chinese astronaut returns to earth safely

[Nottingham]

http://straitstimes.com/latest/story/0,4390,214898,00.html?

Chinese astronaut returns to earth safely
BEIJING -- The re-entry capsule of Shenzhou V, China's first manned spacecraft, returned to earth on Thursday and recovery teams have found astronaut Yang Liwei alive and well, the Xinhua news agency said.



That covered 11 years of research, four test flights of unmanned Shenzhou capsules and a manned launch this week, said Dr Xie Mingbao, the head of the Chinese manned space programme's engineering office.

Some foreign estimates have been much higher, putting China's costs for the programme at about US$2 billion each year in recent years.

Foreign experts say China was able to keep costs down due to low wages for technicians and by buying Russian technology for its space capsule and other equipment.


more....

:bounce:

[ewagner]

1. Glad he's safe

Their space program is primitive but it proves that they are trying desperately to become a modern nation.

They've got a long way to go.

[Maple]

2. Hardly primitive

It was picture perfect in fact.

Moon probe in a couple of years, then a station in 5, then an outpost on the moon by 2015.

[ewagner]

3. I took the quote

that he had been "found" alive and well to mean that precision landing wasn't part of the program.

I may have assumed too much. I hope I didn't offend.

[Maple]

4. Nope

not offended in the least.

There are pictures online of him being greeted and helped out.

Landed in Mongolia on target.

[DrWeird]

5. Precision landings weren't part of US space program either.

Until we built the shuttle that could be flown back. When we had capsules the search area was quite large, I believe, and I thought it could take several hours for the helicopter to reach the capsule. Instead of coming down in the south pacific, this Chinese astronaut came down in the Mongolian steppes, I believe. Kind of fitting, isn't it?

[Parche]

6. china

Peking out of his space capsule the first astronaut
from China thought he was being Shanghai'd

[Goldenboy]

7. Congradulations are in order, but

in China, questions are raised about the cost of the space program at a time when many people in China have a hard time getting the basic necessities of life.

I remember the same questions were raised in the USA during the 1960s about the space program.