Annals of Adventure–The Great Leap Upward: The US space shuttle is grounded. The Russians are broke. So odd as it may seem, you have to look to China for space flight action these days. The New York Times reports that after eleven years of talking about it, China is set to try and become just the third nation on earth to successfully jack one of its citizens into orbit, possibly this Wednesday [registration required; yes, it’s annoying but it’s free and you just have to register once, so get over it]. Details of the mission are sketchy, but reports have the Shengzhou V mission boosting 1-3 Communauts into earth orbit, where they will complete 14 circuits over 21 hours in an orbital module, which will then parachute back to earth. Some reports have the Chinese leaving another module in orbit, along with a high-res recon camera, which if true is sure to get the Pentagon sweating. But forget politics. The Chinese invented both rockets and gunpowder, so if anyone deserves to build a ginormous Roman Candle and torch it off, they do. Plus, they are talking about going to the moon in a few years, which is just the fix hardcore space junkies are looking for. If anyone needs a space colony, the Chinese do……

Source: Space.com

Oriental Orbiter: Where will Dr. Evil be bunking……..