Monday, January 06, 2003

Taikonaut Alert!
The BBC reports that Chinese spacecraft lands:
China's fourth unmanned spacecraft, Shenzhou IV, has returned to Earth.

The official Xinhua news agency said it landed as planned on the central grasslands of the vast Inner Mongolia region, a replay of the conclusion of the three previous Shenzhou missions.

The craft had been in orbit since Monday.

It is thought that this was the last test flight before a manned mission planned for later in the year.
...
To distinguish them from Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts, China uses the term "taikonauts" for its would-be space crews, deriving from the word "taikong" meaning space.

It is understood that about a dozen fighter pilots are training to become taikonauts, although there have been conflicting reports about how many have been chosen and where they are undergoing their training.
No word on warnings to propeller driven UFO's.