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Congratulations are in order for the folks of the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) after the safe return of the latest Shenzhou 8 mission.

The capsule launched at the beginning of November on board a Long March 2F rocket and returned safely 17 days later after completing two successful docking maneuvers with the already orbiting Tiangong 1 space laboratory.

No astronauts were onboard this time, however, sophisticated ‘dummies’ that simulate the metabolic functions (including respiration) of humans took their place, providing invaluable data regarding the life-support and environmental control systems of the space capsule.

It is another important step for the Chinese on their path to fulfilling their space ambitions of human spaceflight missions in 2012 to the Tiangong 1 Space Lab, and eventually having a 100ton Earth orbiting space station by the end of the decade.

Plans beyond this include a manned mission to the Moon by the 2030’s, requiring huge financial investment and more importantly hefty advances in current Chinese space technology. Not an easy dream to fulfill but one that appears to have backing right from the very top of Chinese politics, and a dream set to inspire the national pride of a nation.  

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Take a look at this interesting video clip showing the effects of a re-boost on the astronauts onboard the International Space Station. This took place last week, 26th October  2011, and raised the ISS back up to an altitude of around 242 miles (390km). The clip shows the effects of the ISS accelerating, in effect leaving behind all of the astronauts onboard.  

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