Xinhua Runs Spacewalk Story Before Astronauts Leave Earth http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/151564/xinhua_runs_spacewalk_story _before_astronauts_leave_earth.html Quotes: China's official Xinhua News Agency ran a story on Thursday announcing ground controllers were tracking Chinese astronauts sent aloft for the country's first spacewalk, complete with details and quotes from the astronauts. There was just one problem: the astronauts had yet to blast off for the spacewalk, which is scheduled for the early hours of Saturday morning, Beijing time. Carrying a Sept. 27 dateline that declared Xinhua reporters were "sleepless in the middle of the Pacific Ocean" aboard a Chinese tracking ship, the story -- published on Xinhua's Web site on Sep. 25 at 9:04 a.m. -- offers a gripping account of conversation between ground controllers and astronauts aboard the Shenzhou VII spacecraft, citing the breathless silence aboard the Yuan Wang No. 1 tracking ship as observers waited for the craft to appear on its instruments. Heh, clearly the Chinese don't know how to lie.
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