Word: astronautical
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...never to be heard from again. With technology having improved significantly since then, the Chinese are on the verge of sending a Long March 2F rocket hurtling into space from a secret launch facility near the Gobi Desert. The payload: Shenzhou (divine vessel), a capsule carrying China's first astronaut. The mission: enter a low Earth orbit, circle the globe 14 times, then parachute to a landing zone on the Mongolian steppe. The goal: elevate China into the exclusive ranks of spacefaring nations...
Meanwhile, China's new entrepreneurs are focusing, in true capitalist fashion, on how to exploit space travel for a quick buck. Stamps bearing the Shenzhou image have become collectors' items, and the Jianlibao company promotes its sports drinks with pictures of an astronaut. Several companies even applied to put their corporate logos on the side of the spacecraft for its first manned launch. Beijing declined, perhaps feeling that Shenzhou is its own best...
...heralded manned space mission, there was a reminder that the central government remains authoritarian and insecure. China refused to air the liftoff live, lest state TV broadcast a midair disaster. But, for now, the rest of the world seems willing to share in the internationalist spirit that inspired astronaut Yang to hold up that little blue flag...
...Meanwhile, China's new entrepreneurs are focusing, in true capitalist fashion, on how to exploit intergalactic travel for a quick buck. Stamps bearing the Shenzhou image have become collector's items, and the Jianlibao company promotes its sports drinks with pictures of an astronaut. Several companies have even applied to run their corporate logos on the side of the spacecraft for its first manned launch. "There are no such plans [to allow this] at present," state-run media responded. But when commerce and spaceships meet in China, the sky's the limit...
...nothing really could be in an inherently dangerous business, the laws of physics that govern inertia and aerodynamics favor a five-ton bell-shaped capsule over a 100-ton winged shuttle. Among the early supporters of a capsule idea were many of the pilots and commanders in the astronaut corps, even though the shuttle has had no more enthusiastic constituents. "Would I fly a capsule?? says Brian Duffy, a recently retired shuttle commander. ?Absolutely...