Compares Sporty Soyuz To Truck-Like NASA Space Shuttles
NASA's now retired Space Shuttle was big. Critics of the fleet's
retirement liked to liken it to a spacegoing truck, noting that no
other spacecraft could take its place when large or heavy objects
had to get to the International Space Station. But at least one US
astronaut is looking forward to strapping into a Russian capsule
atop a Soyuz rocket, for the same reason many of us prefer driving
a Miata to driving a Mack.
Two Chinese spacecraft successfully docked Wednesday, marking
China's first step in an ambitious plan to built and man its own
space station by 2020. The Shenzhou VIII spacecraft, which was
launched earlier this week, docked with the Tiangong-1 module which
had been launched last month.
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