Final Frontier

Lalalala~~~ I predicted right!

Speaking to reporters at a Beijing news conference Xie Mingbao, a spokesman for China’s space agency said he expected the next Shenzhou spacecraft to blast-off within “one or two years’ time.” (Shenzhou explainer)

“Our space program has just begun,” Xie said, refusing to be drawn on a specific timetable.

His comments came as Xinhua released an interview with Zhang Qingwei, second in command of China’s space program, revealing plans to put a space lab and then a space station into orbit. (Next steps)

Space station eh? NASA should be getting some extra fundings soon, what with the whole “can’t let communists take over the moon” thing… -.- CNN article.

UPDATE: Ok, pull out a gun cause hunting season is here. That’s RIGHT. I found the guy who created the word “taikonaut”. (grrrrrr…) http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?lastnode_id=887191&node_id=1274358.

Probably the most commonly used term for Chinese astronauts. According to Chen Lan, owner of the now dormant Chinese space website Go Taikonauts!, he came up with the term ‘taikonaut’ in 1998. At around the same time, it began appearing in postings to internet message boards. Chen named his site Go Taikonauts! in order to further promote the use of the word as the Chinese equivalent to astronaut and cosmonaut. You can visit Chen’s site at: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/1921/index.htm Although no longer updated, it is still an interesting read.

Assuming that ‘taikonaut’ really was coined spontaneously on the internet (I have seen some claims that it was first used by journalists), it has been wildly succesful. Press articles frequently use the term, as do internet posters from around the world. I have been told that official PRC government documents use a different, purely Mandarin Chinese term. Since I don’t speak Chinese I will leave it to others to comment on the use of ‘taikonaut’ within China itself. If the Chinese government is as serious as it claims to be about space exploration, I imagine we will soon discover whether taikonaut will join astronaut and cosmonaut in our space lexicon.

DAMN HIM!!!!!!!!!