Today's launch of the Shenzhou 7 mission was undoubtedly of major importance to the national pride of China. So much so that now it appears that a full article and narrative of the launch was posted on the web site of the country's official news agency, Xinhua...before the launch ever took place! The article, dated two days in the future, was eventually discovered and taken down. Fortunately the launch lived up to the article and was a success sending a three man crew into orbit on China's third manned mission and its first since 2005. The crew is expected to make an EVA from their Soyuz clone Shenzhou spacecraft sometime tomorrow, which would be another first for the Chinese space program. The mission is intended to help China develop technologies and procedures for an eventual orbital docking and space station. But it makes me wonder if the mission had been a failure (i.e. kaboom), would the government still have ran the propaganda piece to cover it up?[AP via Gizmodo]
Home to PointNiner
No comments:
Post a Comment