China's spaceman secret revealed by travel agency : 15 October, 8am

THE TIMES
October 08, 2003

China's spaceman secret revealed by travel agency
-------------------------------------------------
From Oliver August in Beijing


AS CHINA keeps the world guessing over the launch date for its first
manned space mission, a travel agency seems to have blown the secret.

According to the China Aviation International Travel Company, which is
organising trips to see the lift-off, the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft will
depart from its remote Gobi Desert base at 8am on October 15.

Chinese officials have said only that the launch is to take place this
month. Analysts have speculated that Beijing does not want to attract
additional attention in case the rocket blows up in mid-air.

Asked by The Times if he could estimate the launch date, a salesman at the
travel company said: "Of course. On the 15th at eight o'clock in the
morning." A Communist Party Central Committee plenary meeting ends the day
before.

The salesman said: "We will watch from a base 8km (five miles) away.
President Hu Jintao will be 1km closer, so don't worry about safety."

The travel company has taken out a £10,000 accident insurance policy for
every member of its 60-strong group. This is included in the £500 price,
as are transport, accommodation and subsistence. An additional charge is
levied for karaoke singing, the salesman said.

"As the rocket will only go up once," he said, "we will only stay for one
night in the aviation city very close to the launch site."

The Shenzhou 5, or "Divine Vessel", will carry one man into space for
about 24 hours. He is to be chosen from a squad of 14 air force pilots and
will have a choice of 20 meals prepared for weightless conditions. The 14
space pilots have been dubbed taikonauts. The Chinese for space is tai
kong, meaning "too empty". The 14 men, whose identity is secret, all have
at least ten years' flying experience, as well as university diplomas.

They weigh an average of 60kg (9st 6lb) and are at least 1.70m (5ft 6in)
tall. All are in their thirties and live in a new training centre outside
Beijing after undergoing training in Russia. They are said to be of "high
political quality". According to the Beijing Youth Daily, their space
suits weigh about 9kg (20lb) and cost "as much as a luxury car".

The taikonauts will have handguns and axes among their equipment in case
they miss their landing site on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia and end
up surrounded by tigers or sharks. The launch site is at Jiuquan Space
Centre in Gansu province.

The Shenzhou capsule is mounted on top of a Long March 2 rocket and has a
passenger room of about six square metres to accommodate up to three
taikonauts. An official said that there would be only one crewman to
minimise the human risk. No experiments will be carried out on the
flight...../more/


see :
=====
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspap...845781,00.html

On Wed, 8 Oct 2003, Martin Postranecky wrote:

[quoting Oliver August in THE TIMES for October 8, 2003]

The Shenzhou 5, or "Divine Vessel", will carry one man into space for
about 24 hours. He is to be chosen from a squad of 14 air force pilots and
will have a choice of 20 meals prepared for weightless conditions.
[...]
The taikonauts will have handguns and axes among their equipment in case
they miss their landing site on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia and end
up surrounded by tigers or sharks. The launch site is at Jiuquan Space
Centre in Gansu province.

I wonder whether they train for this?

Mockup capsule is dumped into the water with a splash. Off pops the hatch.

The bold taikonaut emerges, ax in one hand, pistol in the other.

Then the simulation director barks, "Relase the sharks!"

--
Bill Higgins | Barry: "Cats don't need GPS-- they know
Fermilab | the world revolves around them."
Internet: | Me: "Good sigfile quote, but I probably have
| too many Barry Gehm sigfiles."
| Barry: "There's no such thing
| as too many Barry Gehm sigfiles!"

From Martin Postranecky:
THE TIMES
October 08, 2003

China's spaceman secret revealed by travel agency
-------------------------------------------------
snip
According to the China Aviation International Travel Company, which is
organising trips to see the lift-off, the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft will
depart from its remote Gobi Desert base at 8am on October 15.

I'd like to see them wait until the second week of December to do this launch.


~ CT

"Bill Higgins" wrote in message
al.gov...
On Wed, 8 Oct 2003, Martin Postranecky wrote:

[quoting Oliver August in THE TIMES for October 8, 2003]

The Shenzhou 5, or "Divine Vessel", will carry one man into space for
about 24 hours. He is to be chosen from a squad of 14 air force pilots
and
will have a choice of 20 meals prepared for weightless conditions.
[...]
The taikonauts will have handguns and axes among their equipment in case
they miss their landing site on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia and end
up surrounded by tigers or sharks. The launch site is at Jiuquan Space
Centre in Gansu province.

I wonder whether they train for this?

Mockup capsule is dumped into the water with a splash. Off pops the
hatch.

The bold taikonaut emerges, ax in one hand, pistol in the other.

Then the simulation director barks, "Relase the sharks!"


I'm surprised Bill. You forgot the shark's with friggen LASERS ON THEIR
HEADS!


--
Bill Higgins | Barry: "Cats don't need GPS-- they know
Fermilab | the world revolves around them."
Internet: | Me: "Good sigfile quote, but I probably have
| too many Barry Gehm sigfiles."
| Barry: "There's no such thing
| as too many Barry Gehm sigfiles!"

Stuf4 wrote:

From Martin Postranecky:
THE TIMES
October 08, 2003

China's spaceman secret revealed by travel agency
-------------------------------------------------
snip
According to the China Aviation International Travel Company, which is
organising trips to see the lift-off, the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft will
depart from its remote Gobi Desert base at 8am on October 15.

I'd like to see them wait until the second week of December to do this launch.

You mean after Burt Rutan's sub-orbital flight?

Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:

I'm surprised Bill. You forgot the shark's with friggen LASERS ON THEIR
HEADS!



"Ding-Dong"
"Who is it?"
"Mao's Long March Restaurant."
"I didn't order any food from a restaurant..."
(long wait)
"Downed Taikonaut."
"But the government said that Shenzhou was safely in orbit!"
(long wait)
"The government also said that you should send any criticisms you had of
its policies straight to it during the 'Hundred Flowers' movement...the
fact that you are still alive indicates that you obviously don't believe
in everything that the government says....and rescuing a downed
Taikonaut might be just the thing needed to keep your
counterrevolutionary distrust of the government's news agencies from
putting your head into a noose."
(Door is frantically opened)
"Landshark..."
"Oh, thank Buddha...for a while there I thought I was really in trouble!"

Pat

In article ,
Richard Schumacher wrote:


You mean after Burt Rutan's sub-orbital flight?

What suborbital flight? Probably not this year . . .

http://science.slashdot.org/article....5&mode=thread&
tid=134&tid=160

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
Reformed Aerospace Engineer
"Heisenberg might have been here."
~ Anonymous

In article ,
Herb Schaltegger wrote:
You mean after Burt Rutan's sub-orbital flight?

What suborbital flight? Probably not this year . . .

It's not clear that the part in the Slashdot piece about further flight
tests slipping past the end of the year is anything more than somebody's
speculation. Nothing has been seen from Rutan's crew to that effect, and
people who know them are skeptical that it would take them that long.
--
MOST launched 1015 EDT 30 June, separated 1046, | Henry Spencer
first ground-station pass 1651, all nominal! |

Pat Flannery wrote:


Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:

I'm surprised Bill. You forgot the shark's with friggen LASERS ON THEIR
HEADS!



"Ding-Dong"
"Who is it?"
"Mao's Long March Restaurant."
"I didn't order any food from a restaurant..."
(long wait)
"Downed Taikonaut."
"But the government said that Shenzhou was safely in orbit!"
(long wait)
"The government also said that you should send any criticisms you had of
its policies straight to it during the 'Hundred Flowers' movement...the
fact that you are still alive indicates that you obviously don't believe
in everything that the government says....and rescuing a downed
Taikonaut might be just the thing needed to keep your
counterrevolutionary distrust of the government's news agencies from
putting your head into a noose."
(Door is frantically opened)
"Landshark..."
"Oh, thank Buddha...for a while there I thought I was really in trouble!"

Pat


Excellent...ooohh so excellent!

Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:
[snip]

I wonder whether they train for this?

Mockup capsule is dumped into the water with a splash. Off pops the

hatch.

The bold taikonaut emerges, ax in one hand, pistol in the other.

Then the simulation director barks, "Relase the sharks!"



I'm surprised Bill. You forgot the shark's with friggen LASERS ON THEIR
HEADS!



Hahaha...and with a successful space program, China will be able to hold
the world for ransom for ..... ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

[snip]