Chinese Astronaut Takes Spacewalk

Landmark mission ends on live TV in Mongolia

(NEWSER) - China's third manned space mission ended successfully yesterday when the Shenzou 7 spacecraft made a soft landing in Inner Mongolia, reports Space.com. The re-entry vehicle descended beneath a giant parachute, a hatch opened and the happy astronauts clambered out. The flawless return to earth was broadcast live on television. The mission included China's first spacewalk. More»

Researchers analyzing 40 minutes of film during July solar eclipse

(NEWSER) - Chinese scientists have reported filming a UFO for 40 minutes during the solar eclipse in July, reports the Telegraph. Researchers from the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanjing said they will study the footage for a full year before they issue any conclusions. Scientists "discovered near the sun an unidentified object," said the director of the observatory. "Its physical nature remains to be further studied." More»

(NEWSER) - South Korea scrubbed a planned satellite launch minutes before liftoff today, citing an unspecified technical error, reports the BBC. Seoul has been itching to join the Asian space race and has already produced 10 satellites for other countries' rockets. But the event had threatened to strain recently improved relations with North Korea, which claims—to the disbelief of South Korea and the US—to have successfully launched a satellite in April. More»

(NEWSER) - Russia is still smarting over America’s moon landing 40 years ago—so much so that a recent state TV report gave credence to dubious NASA-faked-it conspiracy theories, the AP reports. Before the moon landing, Moscow dominated the space race, laying claim to the first craft in space, the first man and woman in space, and the first human to leave a craft in space. Russians even reached the moon first, when the unmanned Luna 2 crash-landed in 1959. More»

(NEWSER) - China's 3-man spacecraft is now safely in orbit and all systems are go for the nation's first spacewalk tomorrow, reports Reuters. One of the astronauts is set to spend 40 minutes outside the shuttle in a $4.4 million Chinese space suit. Beijing plans to build a permanent space station within the next decade, and could eventually shoot for a moon landing. More»