<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I think gawin has a point. If the fake story was put out by the same government controlled media that will be reporting on the rest of the mission, one has to think that other news regarding the mission may be similarly tainted. <br />Posted by centsworth_II</DIV></p><p>Not at all. We only know two things, it was erroneous and ith was withdrawn. Thefact that it was withdrawn is to the credit of the Chinese authorities. We don't know the context of the erroneous press release - who wrote it, who released it, why it was released in the first place, until we no people are jumping to conclusions.</p><p>Furthermore one eroneous statement does not make other statements untrue. The USSR covered up the fact that Gagarin did not land with Vostok 1 for many years. The hid the problems with the instrtument module separation even longer, This does not mean to say that other statements about the mission - Gargarin's identity, launch times, orbital data, the footage and still frames of the launch were not genuine.</p><p>By contrast China has vastly been much more open about its missions than the USSR ever was. Many details of the spacecrfaft are public available, major events are announced ahead of time and braodcast live, people can go nd watch the launch. the results are rapidly published in the international literature I have several peer-reviewed papers from earlier Shenzhou missions for example, published in western technical journals.</p><p>If one erroneous (and retracted) statement is going to be helpd against China what does that say about the erroenous (and never retracted) statement by NASA that carbohydrates were found on Venus by Mariner II? Should every detail of that mission be regarded as suspect? Should we never trust NASA ever again?</p><p>The focusing on this one unfortunate event at the expense of the genuine achievements and significance of the mission as a whole, to the extent that claims are made that the whole mission is to be questioned, smacks more of a sinophobica that is looking for sticks with which to beat China</p><p>Jon</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em> Arthur Clarke</p> </div>