It may sound like a joke, but it's very serious: a monkey, a rabbit, a dog and snails made their way into space aboard the Chinese spaceship 'Shenzo' 2
It was indeed an unmanned spaceship, but it was certainly not empty.
A monkey, a rabbit, a dog and snails made their way into space at the beginning of the month,
On an official mission on behalf of the Chinese government. No one asked them how they felt,
But they returned home safely, at least according to the official reports of
China. If the USA sent a chimpanzee into space and the USSR a dog, before they sent my son
Adam, the Chinese delegation was much more impressive. the media
The state reported that "life forms" also joined the space mission
Miscellaneous", such as additional animals, plants, marine animals, microbes
and cells, but refused to provide details about their identities. the strange animal collection,
On earth there is no such connection between them, took off together on the spaceship
The Chinese "Shenzo."2 Last Tuesday, at the end of a seven-day journey,
After 108 laps, the flying beaver came home. By the way, my heroes
The Chinese space program was not particularly well received.
An official from the Jiaoquan Launch Center in northwest China chuckled
When asked to confirm the news, he said that it was a state secret. Factors
Officials from the Space Center in Beijing, who operate under the supervision of the military,
were not available for comment.
After last month the state media reported that China's goal
to send an astronaut into space within five years, a close source said this week
to the space parrot, because the launch of the spacecraft is part of the preparations for this. leaders
In China, they long for China to join the exclusive club of the USA
and the former USSR, the only countries that have so far sent humans into space. Some
Prestige and strengthening of national pride is never harmful.
military and commercial implications
In 1999, China announced a four-part manned space program.
"The successful launch and return of 'Shenzo' 2 show that space technology
China's manned aircraft is advancing, and will allow China to carry out manned flights
into space", the media in China announced this week.
Last Monday, officials boasted that they are on the way to achieving the goal
Finally, sending astronauts into space for an experiment will also have consequences
military and commercial. An official newspaper reported this week that the successful launch
Proved that China now controls the technology that may challenge the
US anti-missile defenses. "The fact that China has developed a ballistic missile
Low momentum means ability to counter those missile defense systems
Developed by the USA", the newspaper wrote. "We can use this technology to
to make the missiles do a little dance and evade enemy attacks."
The official newspaper "People's Daily" reported on Thursday that part of a ship
The spacecraft remains in space and is successfully conducting scientific experiments. the same technology
that was used in the maiden flight could also be used to change the paths of the missiles,
said military expert Song Yicheng in an interview with the Chinese "Business Times".
Elsewhere it is said that the newspaper's report constitutes a rare official confirmation that
The Chinese government is trying to find technological ways to fight
In the defense systems, they were strongly opposed.
The state television announcer reported that the Shenzo 2 spacecraft had been launched
by a new model of the "Long March" missile on Saturday, six thirty in the morning
local time, from the Jiaoquan Satellite Launch Center. The narrator described the
The launch as a historic event.
"This technology will also be used in commercial launches," said Eric Lee,
Satellite expert on behalf of the consulting organization "Claydon Gesher", in Beijing.
The successful launch last Saturday, "will strengthen China's position in launches."
the commercialization of long-range foreign satellites". Joan Johnson-Fris,
A space expert at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, she noted
Because the rocket that was used to launch the spaceship is not similar to the intended ones
for commercial use. "This is only about prestige," she said. "Their technology
Very rude and spartan in many ways. If you want to insert a satellite
Accurate to space, so China is not the address."
Nor should we forget that China's success comes after all, 42 years later
that the former USSR was the first country to reach space. "It makes it possible
For China to say, 'You claim we stole your technology. look
What can we do alone", explained Johnson-Fris. That's after
A report by Republican Senator Christopher Cox, submitted in May
to Congress, claimed that Chinese agents stole space, missile and nuclear secrets
