Dear Slate, yes there are chocolate bars in China
Cinematheque: Mulan is finally Chinese again! (and other film news)
Protest in Guangzhou: Why would you burn garbage?
Barbie Spa: For the cosmopolitan plastic beauty in you
Obama in China: Long gone, and still headlinin'
New Scientist recently reported another delay to China's third crewed spaceflight that will feature a spacewalk. The reason proffered for the revised inflated schedule is to ensure the testing of the astronaut's suit. But what seems to appear a little fishy is that the new date just happens to be a few weeks after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Huang, a leading rocket engineer on the project, also told the Beijing Morning Post that two astronauts may have a chance to walk in space. In April 2006, Chinese space officials said the flight would likely take place in September 2008, only weeks after Beijing hosts the Olympic games. Huang insisted that the flight was not being timed for the Olympics, but said preparations were advanced enough that the flight could be launched ahead of the games in August, the paper said.
Hmm. Sounds like the cat might be out of the bag.
China became the third nation to put a human into space in October 2003, with the main aim from the Shenzhou series is to construct a space station. China has previously announced plans for lunar missions, with a tentative date of 2020 for landing someone on the moon's surface.
This curious pro-science image was taken from Stefan Landsberger's Chinese Propaganda Poster Pages website.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
post to facebook
Yes, I've read elsewhere that China is trying to tie its space program to the Olympic games for propaganda purposes. They'll have their "mission accomplished" moment yet!
everyone can look up at the sky and see China's spacewalker burn up in the atmosphere.
A successful space mission before the Olympics would be the best propoganda, so I think they are more worried about a failure clouding the games.
China is peaceful and has never warred on Tibet or Vietnam or it's own people and there are no problems in Beijing or the rest of China and so the Olmypics and people's lives and everything is perfect.