Earlier this week I asked by email those nice people at Zvezda (whom I visited in 2005) whether or not they had ever sold an Orlan suit to the Chinese government. This is the reply.
"Dear Rob,
We are not in the position to confirm or disprove this information.
We congratulate you and your colleagues with the Victory Day!
Best regards,
Boris A. Ivanov
Foreign Business Relations
"RD&PE Zvezda" JSC"
Victory day, by the way, for the Russians, is 9 May, the day in 1945 when apparently the Allies signed Germany's unconditional surrender, so I am told
The following pictures are from a brief video report broadcast on China's CCTV7 state run channel (CCTV9 is that government's English language channel) that has found its way onto Youtube - see the video embedded in the extended section of this blog posting along with older related videos
Below is what appears to be the first picture of the Chinese EVA spacesuit, albeit modified for underwater operation, and unsurprisingly, like this video obtained by Flight in 2007, it looks very much like a Russian Zvezda Orlan suit
While this image shows the orbital module model in the bottom of the tank it also looks very similar to the shape and design of the module shown in the aforementioned video
The following two images appear to be pictures of the two astronauts to undergo water tank training and perhaps they are candidates to carry out the mission?
Click on for the water tank training video
The Chinese government's propaganda machine keeps churning out these statements about the country's next manned mission and its aims for a extra-vehicular activity during the flight
When I was in Beijing in May 2007 at the country's astronaut research and training centre I was not convinced that the manned programme was anywhere near ready for a mission in 18-months time after talking to the personnel there
Australian space analyst Morris Jones has a lot of questions regarding the lack of credible information from the Chinese
So far we have only had one report, this one. It talks about ground testing of the airlock module and EVA suit and claims that this represented a simulation of microgravity conditions!
I doubt that somehow. But ground testing would very probably entail airlock pressurisation and depressurisation and standing the EVA suit user in a vacuum chamber while you check the integrity of the suit; and maybe doing both. I would be more impressed if they had rebuilt the airlock inside an aircraft and had astronauts practicing egress during parabolic flights. Water tank training is also a must and you would think it would be the easiest PR job in the world just to show pictures of the tank and yet, nope, we get nada
Personally I can see a space accident happening if the mission does go ahead this October
With China's Chang'e-1 lunar orbiter now sending back pictures of the dark side of the moon the Asian superpower's leadership has been hailing its success and has reasserted, again, that China's space programme is for peace and its own prosperity.
Its one-time Communist bloc superpower rival, Russia, has done a deal with Franco-Italian joint venture Thales Alenia Space for co-operation with the Russian state owned NPO-PM satellite manufacturer
While here RIA Novosti reports on Energia blowing its own trumpet
State owned media outlet China Daily has reported that Pang Zhihao, a researcher (so clearly a low level employee) with the country's state owned China Academy of Space Technology space programme prime contractor, has specified October as the likely month during the previously stated year of 2008 for the superpower-to-be's first spacewalk.
But readers of my blog will know I am sceptical of a 2008 EVA following my visit to China's astronaut training center in Beijing in May.
For such a deeply political project such as manned spaceflight having a low level official keep this allegation of a 2008 spacewalk going is an easy way to then backtrack later with comments from a senior guy who is worth listening too.
What was more interesting about the China Daily article is the 2013 launch date for the country's new "next generation" cryogenic engine propelled medium lift rockets that may operate from the proposed Hainan launch complex
Russia is in less of a rush to get its new Asia based launch complex up and running with a 2018 target date, according to RIA Novosti
And to round off, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has posted updates for its Kibo laboratory for the International Space Station and astronaut activities
MSNBC writes that China's Moon orbiter Chang’e 1 has entered lunar orbit and here is a report that the country's space programme is considering using its Long March 3 vehicle for sending a lander mission
Yury Zaitsev, Russian Academy of Engineering Sciences academic adviser, writing for Russian news service RIA Novosti, has a few words about his country's experience of nuclear propulsion, which is key for rapid Earth-Mars transit
And finally, Space.com talks about the Boeing Delta IV launch scheduled for the same day Discovery comes home - tomorrow
It wasn't the lead story I was expecting for this anniversary but after five decades of speak no astronaut, hear no astronaut and see no astronaut, this is quite a seismic shift for the UK even if other natoins are wondering, "what took you so long?"
It reminds me of a story one of my German university friends told me about the German philosopher who was asked by his students, if it was the end of the world what would you do? The philospher said, "Go to England." Bewildered his students asked, "why?" The philospher answered, "because everything there happens 100 years later."
Well its fifty years in this case but you get the idea. You can find my own theories about why there has been this sudden change here.
Anyway, on to more important things, what is out there in the blogosphere on this auspicious day?
The European Space Agency has its own take on Sputnik's birthday
NASA took has its own Sputnik special
Sadly the English language section of the Russian Federal Space Agency's website has nothing on Sputnik and neither does the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's English web pages.
Hobbyspace.com's spacetransportnews.com has more excellent links as always
MSNBC reports NASA administrator Michael Griffin's comments that China will likely beat the US back to the Moon with a manned mission. Such comments don't instill a huge amount of confidence in NASA's current efforts or maybe it is a scare tactic to get Congress to give them some more money as the agency's budget is now stuck back in a continuing resolution with only 2006 funding levels.
While you're mulling over the first 50 years of spaceflight since Sputnik, chew on these morsels
Japan's Kaguya probe has taken a high definition quality pictrue of the Earth, check it out here
Aviation Week and Space Technology looks at the growing coordination between space faring nations
Another section of US society beyond Congress starts to worry about the rise of Asia's space programmes
MSNBC tries to claim that Sputnik wasn't a shock, something a video interview Flight has in the works, with a journalist who worked for the BBC back in 1957 would strongly disagree with
Hobbyspace.com has some video links to New Space craziness; some other links to other whacky issues; news about Operationally Responsive Space; an interview with Franklin Chang Diaz; more Sputnik related bobbins and super-dooper propulsion here.
Space Politics takes issue with a speech by NASA chief Mike Griffin
Space.com hears private space station developer Bigelow Aerospace's concerns about the ability of the transportation industry to get its potential clients to its LEO outposts
NASA is also catching Sputnik fever
CNN.com has news of a TPS tile test to be carried out on the next Shuttle mission
European Space Agency has a couple of things to report, it has successfuly tested the software for its International Space Station supplying Automated Transfer Vehicle and has got the got ahead by its member states to go to stage two of the GMES project's segement one, whatever that means?
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