Up and away: A Long March rocket takes off carrying a crew of Chinese astronauts in a Shenzhou-16 spaceship at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center; (below) The crew. — AP
BEIJING: China successfully launched the latest mission to its Tiangong space station yesterday, with a crew that includes its first civilian astronaut.
It marked the latest space milestone for China, as it looks to catch up with the US and Russia.
Here is a look at the Chinese space programme, and where it is headed:
Mao’s vowSoon after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, Chinese leader Mao Zedong pronounced: “We too will make satellites.”
It took more than a decade, but in 1970, China launched its first satellite on a Long March rocket.
Human spaceflight took decades longer, with Yang Liwei becoming the first Chinese “taikonaut” in 2003, who orbited Earth 14 times in a 21-hour flight.
Space station and roverFollowing in the footsteps of the US and Russia, China started planning for a space station of its own in Earth orbit.
The Tiangong-1 lab was launched in 2011, where in 2013, the second Chinese woman in space, Wang Yaping, gave a video class from that craft to children across the country.
Tiangong-1 was also used for medical experiments and, most importantly, tests intended to prepare for the construction of a space station.
That was followed by the “Jade Rabbit” lunar rover in 2013, which appeared to be a dud when it turned dormant and stopped sending signals back to Earth.
It made a dramatic recovery, however, ultimately surveying the Moon’s surface for 31 months, well beyond its expected lifespan.
In 2016, China launched its second orbital lab, the Tiangong-2.
Space dreamUnder President Xi Jinping, plans for China’s “space dream” have been put into overdrive, with the country planning to build a base on the Moon, reiterating this week its goal to land humans on the Moon by 2030.
The lunar plans were dealt a setback in 2017 when the powerful Long March-5 Y2 rocket failed to launch on a mission to put communication satellites into orbit.
That forced the postponement of the Chang’e-5 launch, originally scheduled to collect Moon samples in the second half of 2017.
Another robot, the Chang’e-4, landed on the far side of the Moon in January 2019 – a historic first.
Chang’e-5 eventually landed on the Moon in 2020, raising a Chinese flag on the lunar surface and returning to Earth the first lunar samples in four decades.
And in 2021, its Tianwen-1 mission successfully landed a rover on the surface of Mars.
Palace in the skyThe final module of space station Tiangong – which means “heavenly palace” – successfully docked with the core structure last year.
It carried several pieces of cutting-edge science equipment, including “the world’s first space-based cold atomic clock system”.
After Tuesday’s launch, the next mission to Tiangong, the Shenzhou-17, is expected in October. — AFP
