hebig.org/blog

As a test of national will and skill, Chinese spaceflight is vastly preferable to, say, invading Taiwan. I promise to watch Chinese manned spaceflight with great interest, and I might even buy the mission patch and decals, but frankly, there isn’t much there there. There haven’t been men or women out of low-earth orbit in some 30 solid years. We don’t seem to miss them in any way that is quantifiable.
Bruce Sterling, MIT Technology Review

First a dog, then a cat, then a puppet - now, a "Taikonaut": "China launched its first human space mission on Wednesday, becoming the third country to send people into orbit. The flight repeats a feat that the Soviet Union and the United States first achieved four decades ago."

MEDIA COVERAGE

• space.com: China Launches Its First Piloted Spaceflight
• space.com: China Special Report
• cnn.com: Chinese launch could signal new space race
• washingtonpost.com: China Launches Its First Manned Space Mission
• chinadaily.com: Shenzhou V blasts off into space at 9:00am
• chinadaily.com: Profile: Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut in space
• channelnewsasia.com: China pulls plug on live broadcast of manned space launch
• Yahoo! News Image Gallery
• Slashdot thread

IN GERMAN

• sueddeutsche.de: Stechschritt ins All: Seit vier Jahren bereiten die Chinesen den bemannten Flug ins All Schritt für Schritt vor
• sueddeutsche.de: Raketen fürs Volk - Warum China einen Mann ins All schießt