Chinese Manned Rocket Launch Today

[Eric Mc]

The Chinese are launching their third manned spaceflight this afternoon. One of the astronauts will perform a spacewalk on Saturday - their first ever.

[xiphias]

Ability wise where does this put them in relation to the rest of the world concerning spaceflight?

[Busa_Rush]

xiphias said:

Ability wise where does this put them in relation to the rest of the world concerning spaceflight?

Catching up, same as in every other field, but wait 10 years and they'll be ahead.

[Eric Mc]

There are only two other countries that have manned spaceflight capability - so it is a small playing field. Their capabiolity at the moment is on a par with the Soviet Union in the late 1960s/early 1970s However, they will be catching up very fast because they can fall back on the bank of knowledge built up by the US and Soviets over almost 50 years.

[scorp]

Eric Mc said:

However, they will be catching up very fast because they can fall back on the bank of knowledge built up by the US and Soviets over almost 50 years.

I would have thought that would normally be the case, no point in "re-inventing the wheel" so to speak.