Word: blastoff
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...province of Udon Thani, the rocket men like nothing better than a big bang, and some of the kingdom's top rocketmakers stage secret gatherings near Si Sutoh Temple at Kam Chanode three or four times a year, usually on important Buddhist festivals. Secret, that is, until the first blastoff, which can be heard for miles around. Kilograms of home-cooked explosive are packed into PVC tubes strapped to bamboo poles, fuses are connected to a car battery to provide an ignition spark, and then?whoosh!?the rockets shoot up into the stratosphere. It's illegal, and very, very dangerous...
...China is intent on becoming the third country to send a man into orbit-behind the U.S. and the former Soviet Union-but its galactic ambitions have been dogged by troubles. In the mid-'90s a Long March 2E rocket exploded after blastoff, killing a family of six on the ground. Still, the country has persevered. With last week's successful launch, China's Space Association says it could send up an astronaut (pre-sumably with an actual heartbeat) as early as next year. The ultimate goal is a lunar landing. Only one problem: it's a long...