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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Russia Invites China's 1st Spaceman To Moon Flight

Moscow (XNA) Aug 23, 2005
The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) on Friday invited China's first spaceman, Yang Liwei, to make a space flight to the moon aboard the promising Russian Kliper shuttle, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

The invitation was offered by the head of Roskosmos, Anatoly Perminov, at a meeting in the day with the Chinese taikonaut.

Taikonaut was coined to refer to Chinese astronauts, who are called cosmonauts in Russia.

Perminov asked Yang: "Would you like to fly in space aboard Kliper, say, to the moon and back?"

"Sure, as a professional taikonaut," Yang was quoted as replying.

According to the Roskosmos chief, the first flight of the manned Kliper shuttle is scheduled for 2012.

"Complete flight qualification of the shuttle" will be made within the next three years. Then, it will be the main transportation vehicle for cosmonauts," he said.

One of the crew on board Kliper would be a pilot responsible for docking and another for landing of the spaceship. The four others would be passengers, he said.

When asked which of the two pilots he would like to be, Yang answered: "I'd like to try flying both as the left and the right pilot."

During the meeting, Yang was also awarded a "Gagarin medal", which is special for personages contributing to international friendship.

Yang arrived in Moscow on Monday for a visit at the invitation of the Roskosmos. He has visited the Cosmonauts' Training Center, the Energia Space Corporation, the Mission Control Center and the International aerospace show MAKS-2005, which was opened a few days ago in Zhukovsky outside Moscow.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

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I don't understand this. The Russian Clipper Shuttle is just that...a Shuttle for near Earth Missions. Is there something else we don't know about this craft?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Taikonauts On Moon A Far Off Dream For China Yet

Beijing (XNA) Jan 05, 2006
A one-year lunar fly-by mission may start in April 2007 in China, but a manned flight to the Earth's neighbour may be a long way away, a chief lunar exploration scientist said last night.
"Sending a man to the Moon? It would be a one-way ticket if we do it now, given the thrust of our rockets at present is not strong enough," Luan Enjie, commander-in-chief of the country's lunar exploration programme, said jokingly.

But the country is planning to develop even more powerful rockets in the future, he added.

Luan was talking to the press at the end of a conference for leaders of the programme yesterday in Beijing.

He announced yesterday that the lunar exploration project had developed from an initial design stage to the production of a satellite and its carrier rocket.

The country welcomes International co-operation in lunar exploration, he said.

With project funds of only 1.4 billion yuan (US$173 million), just enough to build 14-kilometre top-grade highway in some regions, scientists have tried to utilize the country's tested space technology for the programme, he said.

Much of the funding has been reserved for developing the necessary key technology for the project, he said.

For example, the spacecraft that will orbit the Moon, will be based on China's Dongfanghong III satellite platform and its launcher, Long March 3-A rocket, both are tried and tested products, he said.

Construction of the spacecraft and infrastructure for the launch, tracking and control systems will be ready by the end of next year, he said.

The satellite will lift off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Southwest China's Sichuan Province in April 2007.

The scheduled mission is China's first step towards venturing further into space.

Ouyang Ziyuan, the chief scientist of the project, said that Chinese experts and engineers have worked hard to resolve a chain of technological bottlenecks, especially with regards to the tracking of the spacecraft as it orbits the Moon.

The country formally announced the development schedule for lunar exploration in February 2004.

The fly-by mission will obtain three-dimensional images of the Moon's surface and analyze the content and distribution of useful elements on the Moon's surface.

This mission will be followed by the landing of an unmanned vehicle on the Moon in the second stage by 2010, and collecting samples of lunar soil with an unmanned vehicle by 2020, according to earlier reports.

The programme is dubbed "Chang'e Project," and the first lunar orbiting spacecraft has been named "Chang'e-I," referring to an ancient Chinese legend about a fairy called Chang'e who flies to the Moon.

Source: Xinhua News Agency


Story here: www.spacedaily.com/news/Taikonauts_On_Moon_A_Far_Off_Dream_For_China_Yet.html

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[Maddad]

I agree with you, Joe. A shuttle involves a flight to an altitude of a couple hundred miles. A flight to the Moon is a thousand times higher. It's a different ball game.