China to Launch 1st Space Lab Module on Thursday

Source
China is set to launch its first space laboratory into orbit Thursday (Sept. 29), provided the weather cooperates for the planned liftoff.

China's Tiangong 1 space lab is slated to launch aboard a Chinese Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China. The prototype, which will test docking technology with the country's Shenzhou spacecraft, is an important step toward China's goal of constructing a crewed space station in orbit.

Tiangong 1, whose name means "Heavenly Palace" in Chinese, is 9.4 tons, with a length of 34 feet (10.4 meters) and a width of 11 feet (3.35 meters). The unmanned Tiangong 1 module was originally scheduled to blast into orbit between Sept. 27 and 30, but cold weather forced controllers to postpone the targeted launch date, according to state media reports. [Photos: China's First Space Station]

Ok, here we go...

While NASA struggles with budget issues and a now retired shuttle fleet. China is moving right a long. I wish them good luck. I guess they want to have their own exclusive lab instead of helping out the ISS. I wonder if anybody has actually brought this to NASA's attention as a possible solution instead of relying on the Russians?

In any case I wish them luck in their endeavor.

russians far more experinced then the chinese


i would go with russians then the chinese lol


i hope this works out well going to space is a very dangerous thing to do espically for the inexperinced .



good luck china ! i hope all goes well. But i feel like this is going to blow up mid way for some reason

...The prototype, which will test docking technology with the country's Shenzhou spacecraft….

They are testing docking technology. This is old hat for Americans and Russians.

I hope the starving millions in China enjoy the reinvention of the wheel.

reply to post by SLAYER69


Slayer,I hope the chinese are better at building their
space lab and rockets then they are the junk they sell
to Wal-Mart.

C'mon they did such a great job with there new high speed rail networks !! All eyes on them now. so lets see what kind of effort they will put into the space race, willl they rush on ahead trying to copy ideas making loads of mistakes as ever ?

Guess we will soon see !

They didnt coin it a space race for nothing

If china worked out how to cure cancer in their lab, would it be then sold to the world at a high price or would a breakthough of that scale means they share for all human kind?

Makes me wonder why they are keeping a sperate lab and not helping with the global lab effort.

Maybe they just need more room for zero G ping pong

reply to post by Biigs


I'm old enough to think of the space race as..

Who would be the first to orbit a man---Russia.
Who would be first to land a man on the moon---US
Who would be first to colonize Mars---????

One shameless bump then off to the Abyss.

Now wouldn't it be sad if it exploded on take off due to 46,000 cheaply produced and faulty screws.

I dunno but I don't think this mission is going to go as planned for some reason.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by Biigs

 

Who would be first to colonize Mars---????

Russia, China and US.

China is coming on leaps and bounds in techo.. It would not suprise me if they lead the space race in a decade or so with India hot on their heals....

reply to post by purplemer


You seriously believe it will only be China and India while Russia, the US and the Europeans wont be a part of it?

So why doesn't the article mention the weapons platform pointing all its guns at the US?

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by purplemer

 

You seriously believe it will only be China and India while Russia, the US and the Europeans wont be a part of it?

No I tapped it a bit wrong, all I meant was there is big change coming and I would not be suprised to see china take the lead in the next couple of decades.
I could be wrong though, the rate of change that is occurring these days anything could happen..

reply to post by mamabeth


With as much as the Chinese have supposedly hacked into our computers, I would be willing to wager that most of this is our technology in some form or another.