China's Tiangong I Space Lab Reportedly Ready To Launch This Month

USATODAY:

China looks ready to launch a small space lab into orbit, space policy experts report, perhaps as soon as this month.

Read the whole story: USATODAY

Comments

[Thanks4Watching]

06:50 AM on 08/17/2011

We're arguing about whether or not we should cut social security or medicare, or whether we should tax the rich. Meanwhile, China is building 'space labs.'

AMERICA, F YEAH.

[mike72]

09:40 AM on 08/17/2011

Because we are the "Consumer Oriented" economy. We consume and they produce.

The ones who produce hold all the cards and the consumers are at their mercy. Worst yet, sooner or later these life-enjoying consumers will lose the skills, and more critically, the will, to produce for themselves.

Yeah we are F!

[TYRANNASAURUS]

06:03 PM on 08/16/2011

China May Launch New Space Lab This Month........

Why not sell them ours for a cool trillion?

[jonathan6773]

03:34 AM on 08/16/2011

Once it goes out to space, it will be demolished because the outer layer is made from metal found at the junk yard and the installations are Chinese newspapers. You can make more, but quality will win in the long run.

[Grandpanuck]

03:59 AM on 08/16/2011

This is why the ISS will be ocean junk when its in space.

[dsws]

11:32 PM on 08/15/2011

Hey USA Today, satellites don't "soar".

[jsarets]

11:29 PM on 08/15/2011

The Chinese space program still has a long way to go, but they're proceeding very methodically and incrementally along a long-term plan. The Tiangong family of monolithic space stations is very much like the Salyut stations that the Soviet Union launched in the 1970s, except roughly half as large, and the Shenzou spacecraft is very much like the Soyuz.

China is clearly modeling their space program on the Russian program both in terms of vehicle architecture and development path. Earth orbit space stations and robotic lunar sample return before manned lunar landings.

It makes more sense to do it that way, from an engineering standpoint. That's the way Werner von Braun wanted to do it before President Kennedy gave him the blank check of his wildest dreams to skip directly to the manned lunar landings.

So Apollo left us with flags and footprints on the moon but no lasting infrastructure that could be evolved toward longer missions on the lunar surface or toward the exploration of Mars. Apollo was designed to do Apollo and nothing else. We also built a space program that was designed to meet fixed schedules on unlimited budgets and has been largely unsuccessful over the past 40 years at restructuring itself to meet fixed budgets without excessive schedule slippage. 

That was the price we paid for winning the space race. It's like we built our space program out of asbestos (that wonder material of a bygone era), and now we not only have to start over, but we have all this cancerous legacy overhead that we have to amputate before we can really move forward.

[LMPE]

10:49 PM on 08/15/2011

Can we put John Boehner in there and leave it in space?

[kinogod]

06:15 PM on 08/15/2011

This just in, china just took over e erything and reduced the world to a markdown bin.

[J0E1]

05:31 PM on 08/15/2011

Be sure to look for the latest technology from Appel, HD, and Soni inside.

[mike72]

08:24 PM on 08/15/2011

But can an Apple, HD or Sony CD fly into space and go beyond the wildest dreams of human spirits?

China moves forward. The rest are just stepping stones, including Apple, HD and Sony.

You either join them for next level of human endeavor or forever taking sour grapes from outside.

[mike72]

08:26 PM on 08/15/2011

China will be in space. And Apple will build a space saucer looking building on earth pretending to look cool.

You do the math.

[Enzo Ferrari]

04:06 PM on 08/15/2011

Looks pretty high tech surrounded by the fake plants. Would make a better movie prop for the Planet of the Apes

[DAE]

04:05 PM on 08/15/2011

Ever hear the story of the tortoise and the hare?

[Mister Grumpy]

03:53 PM on 08/15/2011

I hope they used some of that sulpher contaminated drywall on the inside..........

[mike72]

08:34 PM on 08/15/2011

If you do a tally, there are more American made products that were recalled than the Chinese made products over the last 5 years.

The reason you can not let go of the drywall issue is that it is headlined and sensationalized to make you feel better.

The reality is otherwise.

[Grandpanuck]

03:35 AM on 08/16/2011

As long as they don't outsource the gas pedals to the Indiana company that designed and patented the flawed pedals like Toyota did, they should be fine.

[imonlyhereforthelaughs]

03:07 PM on 08/15/2011

It'll make you sick if you lick it, and it probably will burst into flames, but they're giving it a go anyway.

[mike72]

08:39 PM on 08/15/2011

And you are spinning at the exactly same spot 20 years later, writing the same kind of negative energy comments. :)

[Grandpanuck]

03:52 AM on 08/16/2011

Mattel is not involved with making requirement for the least expensive industrial paint and I doubt the US shared any Challenger technology.

[Joel Shasteen]

03:06 PM on 08/15/2011

Is it a real space lab or just a cheap knock-off?

[StansDad]

06:12 PM on 08/15/2011

Is that a rhetorical question? It's purpose is to get China into space, you don't need a lot of bells a whistles to hurdle a person or two into orbit.

[mike72]

08:41 PM on 08/15/2011

Chinese are in space. And you are grounded on earth asking this pretencious and rehtorical question to make you feel "illusionally" better.

You are one of the millions of reasons why the Chinese are ahead of us.

[Joel Shasteen]

11:48 PM on 08/15/2011

Point taken. On a serious note: Do you really think the Chinese are ahead of us (Americans)? They certainly out-number the US in terms of population but what about contributions to mankind? Wouldn't you say that the United State's space program is currently ahead of China's. I am not saying that given their trajectory (pun intended) in the science of space exploration their program won't soon eclipse (pun also intended) ours but currently I think we got em beat.