Chinese spacecraft lands on moon

[World Fan]

Was a donkey length until Nixon went to China.

[Muadib]

Chiney ah land pon Moon.

Babylon ah prepare fi send Humanoid Robot to Mars...

It's not even close..

[World Fan]

US and Chinese warships nearly collide amid tensions over airspace

USS Cowpens was near Liaoning aircraft carrier in South China Sea when another Chinese ship closed in, officials say

• Reuters in Washington
• theguardian.com, Friday 13 December 2013 22.30 EST
• Jump to comments (944)

China's Liaoning aircraft carrier on an East China Sea exercise in November. Photograph: AP

A US guided missile cruiser operating in international waters in the South China Sea was forced to take evasive action last week to avoid a collision with a Chinese warship, the US Pacific Fleet has revealed.

The USS Cowpens had been operating in the vicinity of China's only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, at a time of heightened tensions in the region following Beijing's declaration of an air defence zone farther north in the East China Sea, a US defence official said.

Another Chinese warship came near the Cowpens in the incident on 5 December. The US ship was forced to take evasive action to avoid a collision, the Pacific Fleet said in its statement.

"Eventually, effective bridge-to-bridge communications occurred between the US and Chinese crews, and both vessels manoeuvred to ensure safe passage," said a defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Cowpens had been in the Philippines helping with disaster relief in the aftermath of typhoon Haiyan, which hit the region in November. The US navy said it was in the South China Sea conducting routine "freedom-of-navigation" operations – which are intended to assert the right of passage through a disputed area – when the incident occurred.

China sent the Liaoning to the South China Sea in the midsts of the tensions over the air zone, which covers the skies around a group of tiny islands in the East China Sea that are administered by Japan but claimed by Beijing as well.

Beijing declared the air zone in November and demanded that aircraft flying through provide flight plans and other information. The United States and its allies rejected the Chinese demand and have continued to fly military aircraft into the zone.

Beijing claims most of the South China Sea and is involved in territorial disputes with several of its neighbours in that region as well.

Asked if the Chinese vessel had been moving toward the Cowpens with aggressive intent, an official declined to speculate on the motivations of the Chinese crew. "US leaders have been clear about our commitment to develop a stable and continuous military-to-military relationship with China," the official said.


http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...llide-airspace

[World Fan]

Chinese spacecraft lands on moon

First soft landing since 1976 puts China alongside US and former Soviet Union in accomplishing such a feat

• theguardian.com, Saturday 14 December 2013 09.29 EST

A screen grab of live TV footage shows China's first lunar rover after it landed on the moon. Photograph: CCTV/AFP/Getty Images

A Chinese spacecraft has landed on the moon in the first "soft landing" since 1976.
The event, broadcast live on Chinese TV, means the country has joined the US and the former Soviet Union in managing to accomplish such a feat.
The Chang'e 3, named after a lunar goddess in traditional Chinese mythology, is carrying the solar-powered Yutu, or Jade Rabbit rover, which will dig and conduct geological surveys. The mission is expected to last three months.
At 9:14 pm local time (1314 GMT), the official Xinhua news service reported that the spacecraft had touched down in the Sinus Iridum, or the Bay of Rainbows, at 9:12 p.m. after hovering over the surface for several minutes seeking an appropriate place to land.
A soft landing does not damage the craft and the equipment it carries. In 2007, China put another lunar probe in orbit around the moon, which then executed a controlled crash on to its surface.
The rover will be manipulated by Chinese control centres with support from a network of tracking and transmission stations operated by the European Space Agency.
In China's most recent manned space mission in June, three astronauts spent 15 days in orbit and docked with an experimental space laboratory, part of Beijing's quest to build a working space station by 2020.


http://www.theguardian.com/science/2...nds-moon-china