CDT’s nomination for the strangest news (so far at least) to come out of the on-going 17th Party Congress. Via China Daily:
Chinese taikonauts (astronauts) may start a branch of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in space, said the country’s first taikonaut Yang Liwei.
China now has a 14-strong astronaut team. The team members, including Yang himself, are all CPC members.
“If China has its own space station, the taikonauts on mission will carry out the regular activities of a CPC branch in space in the way we do on earth, such as learning the Party’s policies and exchanging opinions on the Party’s decisions,” said Yang, a delegate to the on-going CPC national congress in Beijing. [Full Text]
One wonders how this announcement squares with recent reports that China wants to join the International Space Station.
[Image from the WIRED Science blog]
