First Photos of the Moon From Chinese Probe

[NurseCarmen]

Russia will try next so they can claim all the oil!

[askeptic]

@Lust4Life

Or of course it could be for more venal reasons.

As the saying goes “Possession is nine parts of the law”.

And what, pray tell, is out there for them to posses?

[carnivorousplant]

@Lust4Life

But the Chinese aren’t so squeamish about losing people,especially in a high risk enviroment like space exploration

They are concerned about success and how the world views them, and have progressed very carefully and slowly in their space program. As I recall, they flew several unmanned orbital missions with their space capsules.

[Duke_of_Rat]

@Lust4Life

I think an important point that we should take on board is that the Chinese dont appear to suffer from the same constraints that the West does.

U.S. manned space exploration has been proceeding at a snails pace because N.A.S.A. is desperately trying to proceed in as risk free a manner as is possible,partly out of genuine compassion(though I suspect that many U.S. astronauts would actually be willing to take more risks then they do now if given the option) …but also high profile deaths on prime time T.V. can be the kiss of death to funding and turn the public away from manned spaceflight generally.

And when that happens your average politician will steer away.

But the Chinese aren’t so squeamish about losing people,especially in a high risk enviroment like space exploration so that though they are years behind western space expertise at the moment it wont take them long to catch up and even overtake U.S. manned space achievments.

It could be that Chinas interest in space could be a purely scientific one occasioned by the philantrophic desire to promote the advance of human knowledge .

Or of course it could be for more venal reasons.

As the saying goes “Possession is nine parts of the law”.

You could substitute “Soviet Union/Soviets” in place of “China/Chinese” in the above post, yet the Soviets never made it to the moon/have no moon base.

[Lust4Life]

@Duke of Rat

You could substitute “Soviet Union/Soviets” in place of “China/Chinese” in the above post, yet the Soviets never made it to the moon/have no moon base.

You’re absaloutly right but it wasn’t for technological reasons that the Sovs abandoned manned spaceflight.

Heard a talk by an ex Apollo astronaut at my local Uni.( cant remember his name but he was promoting a book)
and he reckoned that spy photos of the Soviet Unions Cosmodrome showed an almost ready to go,rocket on the launch pad that the U.S. was convinced was the Russians manned Lunar Landing mission and though the Apollo equipments weren’t properly developed or tested would the astros be prepared to shoot the moon?

The astronauts said yes and then went ahead did it.
The Soviet press didn’t publish the moon landing until many hours after the event and then only in a minor way.
After that it was all "Its pointless to sacrifice human life when automated machines can do the job as well"in all Soviet press releases about space exploration from that time on.

So they could easily launch a successsful manned lunar landing mission very quickly in the near future now its not a case of losing face.

[carnivorousplant]

@Lust4Life

Heard a talk by an ex Apollo astronaut at my local Uni.( cant remember his name but he was promoting a book)
and he reckoned that spy photos of the Soviet Unions Cosmodrome showed an almost ready to go,rocket on the launch pad that the U.S. was convinced was the Russians manned Lunar Landing mission and though the Apollo equipments weren’t properly developed or tested would the astros be prepared to shoot the moon?

The astronauts said yes and then went ahead did it.

I thought the Russian booster exploded on the pad.
Apollo was “properly developed and tested” particularly after the fire.

[squeegee]

@Lust4Life

So they [the Soviets] could easily launch a successsful manned lunar landing mission very quickly in the near future now its not a case of losing face.

I don’t think the Russians have the boosters for a manned moon mission, since the N1 failures. Anyone out there know more about this?

[carnivorousplant]

@squeegeethe [N1

(N1 (rocket) - Wikipedia) failures.

July 3, 1969: At liftoff a loose bolt was ingested into a fuel pump, which failed. After detecting the inoperative fuel pump, the automatic engine control shut off 29 of 30 engines, which caused the rocket to stall. The rocket exploded 23 seconds after shutting off the engines, destroying the rocket and launch tower in the biggest explosion in the history of rocketry.

This is the one I was thinking of. Thanks.

[nd_n8]

@Duke of Rat

You could substitute “Soviet Union/Soviets” in place of “China/Chinese” in the above post, yet the Soviets never made it to the moon/have no moon base.

Yeah, that’s why all your base are belong to us.

[Tuckerfan]

@askeptic

And what, pray tell, is out there for them to posses?

Prestige, He[sub]3[/sub], technological innovation, and, quite frankly, a place where one doesn’t have to worry so much about pollution. Heck, with a electromagnetic launcher, one can fire rocks at the Earth, and there’s a whole lotta nuttin’ the groundhogs can do about it, except hope they’re not in the target area.

@squeegee

I don’t think the Russians have the boosters for a manned moon mission, since the N1 failures. Anyone out there know more about this?

Well, they’re planning on offering a trip around the Moon to any tourist willing to pay $100 million.

[Shirley_Ujest]

Do they have a flag?

[squeegee]

@Tuckerfan

Well, they’re planning on offering a trip around the Moon to any tourist willing to pay $100 million.

I guess I should have specified a moon landing, since that was what Lust4Life was discussing. Which would imply a much more difficult problem, and larger boosters.

OTOH, I suppose, since the Russians can get payloads into LEO, they could just keep sending up parts and people to build a earth-moon land-able vehicle in LEO, and depart when it’s ready.

[Tuckerfan]

@squeegee

I guess I should have specified a moon landing, since that was what Lust4Life was discussing. Which would imply a much more difficult problem, and larger boosters.

OTOH, I suppose, since the Russians can get payloads into LEO, they could just keep sending up parts and people to build a earth-moon land-able vehicle in LEO, and depart when it’s ready.

Yeah, I think a guy by the name of Von Braun had the same idea once.

[The_Hamster_King]

Heck, with a electromagnetic launcher, one can fire rocks at the Earth, and there’s a whole lotta nuttin’ the groundhogs can do about it, except hope they’re not in the target area.

Except fire a rocket with a nuclear missile at the launcher. Other than that it’s the perfect plan!

[squeegee]

@Pochacco

Except fire a rocket with a nuclear missile at the launcher. Other than that it’s the perfect plan!

Except for those boosters we have that can’t reach the moon.

“It’ll never work.”

“You’re only saying that because it never has!”

[Gorsnak]

First photo of the Moon From Japanese Probe

[The_Hamster_King]

@squeegee

Except for those boosters we have that can’t reach the moon.

Building an electromagnetic cannon on the moon would take far longer than it would take us to build a new moon rocket to blow it up. I think we’re safe.

[Tuckerfan]

@Pochacco

Building an electromagnetic cannon on the moon would take far longer than it would take us to build a new moon rocket to blow it up. I think we’re safe.

Assuming, of course, we actually have the wherewithal to build the rockets, and not, say, outsource the job to China!

[athelas]

Great, now the moon is covered in lead.

[Musicat]

@athelas

Great, now the moon is covered in lead.

Better lead than red, eh?