Boom, Zoom, To The Moon...

Submitted by ub on

No we're not talking about Alice and Ralph, but a Chinese version of "Honeymooners"

Peoples Republic of China has launched its most ambitious space mission yet, carrying its first female astronaut in an attempt to dock with an orbiting module and work on board for more than a week.

The Shenzhou 9 capsule has lifted off as scheduled from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert. All systems functioned normally opening its solar panels and entering orbit.

China's female astronaut 33 year old Liu Yang, aka Alice and her two male crew members — mission commander and veteran astronaut Jing Haipeng, 45, aka Ralph and newcomer Liu Wang, 43, aka Norton may soon be docking the spacecraft with a prototype space lab launched last year. All three are experienced pilots and officers in the Chinese air force.

These astronauts are expected to reach their Tiangong module on Monday. Now orbiting at 213 miles above Earth, the module is only a prototype, and plans call for it to be replaced by a larger permanent space station due for completion around 2020. That station is to weigh about 60 tons, slightly smaller than NASA's Skylab of the 1970s and about one-sixth the size of the 16-nation International Space Station.

Perhaps in the future... "One of these days, one of these days, POW, Right in the kisser"