China’s First Space Mission Landing Staged

Remember astronaut Yang Liwei? Me neither. But anywho, he was China’s first fully fledged, real life, out in orbit, spaceman hero. OK, so now we have established we know absolutely nothing  this dude, I am gathering no one would remember 2003, when he landed safely back to earth after having orbited the Earth 14 times, making it China’s first successful manned space mission?  No, still drawing a blank? Well, it seems that the billion or so Chinese, who WERE glued to their TV sets during this monumental moment, were somewhat deceived. Yeah, yeah, he did complete the mission, but it didn’t go as smoothly as they were lead to believe. Nope, seems Liwei got badly G-forced on the way down and ended up with a split lip and blood all over his face. So in typical Chinese fashion they cleaned him up, strapped him back into his seat and shut the door before letting the cameras roll. Hmm, yep, the whole landing thing was staged so China could soak up the triumph in spectacular style without freaking out the masses. Sheez, no biggie, NASA has been doing it for years!
The little known fact was revealed during a lecture by a top official, Xia Lin, to a group of journalist students last month. The title of the speech was “Understanding Journalistic Protocols for Covering Breaking News,”