We Think It's For Real This Time

ANN REALTIME REPORTING 09.25.08 1300 EDT: China has successfully launched its third manned spaceflight, sending three taikonauts onboard the Shenzhou 7 into orbit in a dramatic nighttime launch from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the desert of northwest China's Gansu province.

The Press Association reports the mission is expected to last three days, and will include China's first extra-vehicular activity, or spacewalk. The three men onboard are all 42 years-old, all former fighter pilots in the People's Liberation Army, and all members in good standing of the Communist Party.

Though Chinese officials haven't officially commented on which taikonaut will have the honor of becoming the country's first spacewalker, following in the footsteps of Alexei Leonov and Edward White... other reports state Colonel Zhai Zhigang will conduct a 40-minute spacewalk sometime during the 68-hour mission, and will release a small satellite which can broadcast video of his spacewalk back to earth.

He'll wear a $15 million pressurized spacesuit patterned after a Russian design, with two lifelines supplying oxygen and communications from the Shenzhou VII spacecraft.

Early Reports Of Successful Launch Were Also Premature

There's no question that in today's fast-paced world of news reporting -- fueled in no small part by the rapid growth of Internet journalism -- there is considerable pressure to get the news out first. Of course, it's also a plus when the news being reported is correct... but at least the Web site for Chinese news service Xinhua was successful in one of those two goals. 

A story describing China's launch of its long-awaited third orbital mission -- that is to include that country's first spacewalk -- crossed the wires early Thursday morning. It included vivid descriptions of the successful launch, and even transcripts of communications between mission control and the three taikonauts onboard their space capsule.

There's just one problem: when this story first broke early Thursday morning... the rocket was still on its launch pad.

When queried over the phone by The Associated Press, an unnamed staffer for Xinhuanet.com Web site termed the posting of the article as a "technical error." The AP notes the story was postdated for September 27, near the end of targeted launch window for the Shenzhou 7 mission.

Though some may find the practice of writing a story ahead of the actual news to be distasteful, it's also a fairly common practice. As a case in point, one only needs to look towards the Apollo space program... and the fact speechwriters for President Nixon composed two speeches for the Apollo 11 moon landing: one speech if the landing was successful, the other if it was not.

It is also not unusual for a reporter to sketch out a rough draft for an expected breaking news story, providing a template on which the reporter may fill in the actual details later.

And speaking of those details... here are some excerpts from the Xinhua report, which remained on the news service's web site for most of the day, before finally being taken down that evening.

"After this order, signal lights all were switched on, various data show up on rows of screens, hundreds of technicians staring at the screens, without missing any slightest changes ...

'One minute to go!'

"The firm voice of the controller broke the silence of the whole ship. Now, the target is captured 12 seconds ahead of the predicted time ...

'The air pressure in the cabin is normal!'

"Ten minutes later, the ship disappears below the horizon. Warm clapping and excited cheering breaks the night sky, echoing across the silent Pacific Ocean."

FMI: www.cnsa.gov.cn/n615709/cindex.html