Am I the only one that heard of...

China putting his first man into space?
To me it seemed like an important event which one would expect to get a lot of attention... Instead I haven't heard anyone mention it. In fact when I asked people about it they went like; "Oh, I didnt know that... are you sure about that?"

Well yes I'm sure! So what's up? Is nobody interessed in China's space age?

CNN

BTW: Are the Chinese astronauts or cosmonauts?

Yes, I'm aware of it.

m0l0t0v said:

BTW: Are the Chinese astronauts or cosmonauts?

Neither. They're Taikonauts. I heard that yesterday. Not sure what Taiko means.

"Taikong" is a Chinese word that means space or cosmos. The resulted prefix "taiko-" is similar to "astro-" and "cosmo-" that makes three words perfectly symmetric, both in meaning and in form. Removing "g" from "taikong" is to make the word short and easy to pronounce. On the other side, its pronounciation is also close to "taikong ren", the Chinese words "space men".
Chinese officials and newspapers prefer the term yuhangyuan , however, which roughly translates as "space navigator."

I too am aware of this. The Chinese are now the 3rd nation to put a man into space, behind the old USSR and USA. It has featured on the news in the UK, but every time I saw it, it was not a main headline, more like item 3 or 4 on the news.

Taikonauts hey...

I was wondering because in the book 2010: Odyssey Two the Chinese were called cosmonauts IIRC.

Oh well, if you go into space I suppose you deserve to choose your own name.

Anyway, I thinks it's kinda cool the communists are back in the picture. And who knows, maybe this will trigger a revival of those good old scifi stories!

I think the reason both the Russians and Chinese were called cosmonauts was perhaps because "cosmonaut" was coined for Russians, who were commies in the days of Clarke, and so were the Chinese...whether or not Clarke knew the actual reason that "cosmonaut" was given to the Russians or not is beyond me.

EDIT: And, why do I have this sinking feeling that this will start another space race or even, *GASP!*, another Cold War?

Russian astronauts were called cosmonauts because that's how they called themselves (in Russian).

"Taikonaut", however, is NOT how chinese astronauts are called in China. It's purely a Western media word. In other words, chinese-sounding BS.

I was vaugly aware of this, due to the fact that when I heard of it, it was about time for me to get on the bus and all I heard from the TV was "China launched its first shuttle into space" and I saw the shuttle lifting off and all that crap. Didnt get any details, though.

læmænt said:

Russian astronauts were called cosmonauts because that's how they called themselves (in Russian).

"Taikonaut", however, is NOT how chinese astronauts are called in China. It's purely a Western media word. In other words, chinese-sounding BS.

"Cosmonaut" is an anglification of the Russian word "Kosmonaut", which in term is derived from the Greek words kosmos, meaning universe and nautes, meaning sailor. One could reasonably argue that "cosmonaut" is simply the Russian language word for "astronaut", which the media on both sides have chosen not to translate this way for political reasons.

You know the space program has problems when they're waiting until the last second to decide how many 'nauts get to ride the rocket.

And you know they just want that million-dollar prize for putting a man into orbit. Carmack and his teammates are gonna hand the Chinese their ass. :P

Let the space races begin again!

If I ever start a space program, my guys are going to be called dreadnauts.

american space explorers should be called doughnauts lollolololololO!!!11twelve

I am also aware.

To me it seemed like an important event which one would expect to get a lot of attention.

Maybe, if it was 1964.
-Jay Leno

the_Danarchist said:

If I ever start a space program, my guys are going to be called dreadnauts.

I'd call them Juggernauts and give them big guns.

fodders said:

"Cosmonaut" is an anglification of the Russian word "Kosmonaut", which in term is derived from the Greek words kosmos, meaning universe and nautes, meaning sailor. One could reasonably argue that "cosmonaut" is simply the Russian language word for "astronaut", which the media on both sides have chosen not to translate this way for political reasons.

dude, i'm russian

i kind of know this

Also, saying "cosmonaut" is an anglification of "kosmonaut" is silly, because "kosmonaut" itself is also an anglification of the actual russian word. Both variants are equally "correct", actually.

Taiko, as in our favorite drum sound from Doom 2, in MAP20 & 26?

i don't really give a damn what they're doing
so long as i get to kill me somethin' :)

Yay, mad props to China and the Taikonaut dude; another one of the lucky few that get to slip "the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God." (An interesting site on that, if anyone cares.) Indeed an historic event. I just hope this doesn't start any rivalries; they're no good in the nuclear age.

well spank my ass and call me charlie! that cool. now we have a new comunist partner in space. it was getting lonely. I only hope they can reproduce the results russia is able to get. russia kicks ass in space

I think Japan should start a space program. They definately have the technology and money. And they'd do cool stuff like giant robots and laser beams and shit.

the_Danarchist said:
I think Japan should start a space program. They definately have the technology and money. And they'd do cool stuff like giant robots and laser beams and shit.

Lol. Are you kidding? They're thinking about the risks. It's starts with them sending a man into space, and the next thing you know somebody in a mask is crashing a space colony into the Earth. No thank you, I say. No thank you.

Fods: I thought nautes was Latin. Egads! Those 3 years are already starting to move away from me!