China’s “space dream”: a long march to the moon

Beijing – China’s launch of an unmanned spacecraft aimed at bringing back the moon rocks – the first attempt by any nation to recover samples from the moon in four decades – underscores how far the country has come in realizing its “dream.” space”.

A long March 5 rocket carrying the Chang’e-5 probe, named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess, departed at 4:30 am from the Wenchang space center in the southern island province of Hainan, according to reports. Xinhua official news agency.

Beijing has invested billions in its military-run space program, with hopes of having a manned space station by 2022 and eventually sending humans to the moon.

China has come a long way in its race to reach the United States and Russia, whose astronauts and cosmonauts have had decades of experience in space exploration.

Beijing sees its space program as an indicator of its growing global stature and growing technological power.

Here’s a look at China’s space program through the decades and where it’s headed:

Mao’s vote

Immediately after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, Chairman Mao Zedong declared “we will also make satellites”.

It took more than a decade, but in 1970, China’s first satellite lifted into space aboard a Long March rocket.

Human spaceflight lasted decades longer, with Yang Liwei becoming the first Chinese astronaut to go to space in 2003.

As the launch approached, concerns over the mission’s viability prompted Beijing to cancel a live nationwide television broadcast at the last minute.

Despite fears, the launch went smoothly, with Yang orbiting Earth 14 times during his 21-hour flight aboard the Shenzhou 5.

Since then, China has sent men and women into space with increasing regularity.

Space station and ‘Jade Rabbit’

Following in the footsteps of the United States and Russia, China is trying to open a space station that surrounds our planet.

Tiangong-1 was launched into orbit in September 2011.

In 2013, the second Chinese woman in space, Wang Yaping, gave a video lesson from inside the space module broadcast to children in the world’s most populous country.

The laboratory was also used for medical experiments and, above all, tests intended to prepare the construction of a space station.

The lab was followed by the “Jade Rabbit” lunar rover in 2013, which at first looked like a disaster when it went dormant and stopped sending signals to Earth.

The rover took a dramatic recovery, however, eventually surveying the moon’s surface for 31 months, well beyond its expected lifespan.

In 2016, China launched its second station, the Tiangong-2 laboratory, orbiting 393 kilometers (244 miles) above the Earth, in what analysts say will likely serve as the final element before China launches a space station. with crew.

The astronauts who visited the station conducted experiments on growing rice and other plants, as well as docking spacecraft.

‘Space dream’

Under President Xi Jinping, plans for China’s “space dream”, as he calls it, have been pushed to the limit.

The new superpower is trying to finally catch up with the United States and Russia after years of belated correspondence with their space milestones.

The ambitions begin with a space station of its own – China has been deliberately excluded from the International Space Station effort – with the assembly of parts in space expected to begin this year and manned use starting around 2022.

China is also planning to build a base on the moon, with Zhang Kejian, head of the country’s national space administration, last year saying the country aimed to establish a moon mission by 2029.

But lunar work suffered a setback in 2017 when the Long March-5 Y2, a powerful heavy-duty rocket, failed to launch on a mission to send communication satellites into orbit.

The failure forced the postponement of the launch of Chang’e-5, originally planned to collect lunar samples in the second half of 2017.

Another robot, the Chang’e-4, landed on the other side of the moon in January 2019, a historic first.

Chinese astronauts and scientists have also talked about manned missions to Mars as Beijing strives to become a global space power.