China and the Third World in Space

1. China and the Third World in Space 20 October 2017

2. The space program of the People's Republic of China is directed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Its technological roots can be traced back to the late 1950s, when the People's Republic began a ballistic missile program in response to perceived American (and, later, Soviet) threats. However, the first Chinese crewed space program only began several decades later, when an accelerated program of technological development culminated in Yang Liwei's successful 2003 flight aboard Shenzhou 5. This achievement made China the third country to independently send humans into space. Plans currently include a permanent Chinese space station in 2020 and crewed expeditions to the Moon.

3. Roles of Chinese Space Program • Fulfil domestic economic and political goals • Modernize society • Support its international agenda: ‘soft’ power • National security • Developing cooperative programs with neighbors • Secure space for peaceful use, derive benefits for security, economic, civil and environmental ends. Take advantage of opportunities!

5. China's ambitious and fast-growing space program is targeting a landing on the dark side of the moon by 2018, and reaching Mars before the end of the decade. Other plans include sending probes to Jupiter and its moons. China is still studying the possibility of sending a man to the moon, but focusing on robotic lunar missions for now, including making the first soft landing on the far side of the moon around 2018. A leading official of China’s space program confirmed Sept. 25 that the July failure of the country’s largest launch vehicle will lead to delays to upcoming lunar missions, including one to return samples.

6. “You will see the Chinese quite visibly begin to match the capacity of the other spacefaring powers by 2020,” predicts Brian Harvey, space analyst and author of China in Space: The Great Leap Forward. Key to this will be the large manned space station, Tiangong, which they plan to have in orbit by then. Although not as physically large as the International Space Station America, Russia, Europe, Japan and other countries have been building and using since 1998, China’s space station will have a broadly similar capacity to perform science. “Science is becoming more and more important in the Chinese space programme,” says Wang Chi of the National Space Science Centre, Chinese Academy of Sciences. “We are not [just] satisfied with the achievements we have made in the fields of the space technology and space application. With the development of the Chinese space programme, we are trying to make contributions to human knowledge about the universe.”

8. Chinese Launch Vehicles

9. Chinese astronauts provide public recognition and national pride

12. Summary • From aspiring space state to rank now similar to US and Russia. Military/civilian merged • Original pioneers may be floundering, but China is moving authoritatively • Successful space activities are now routine • Its independent space activities mark it as an important national player with robust economic and technical capabilities: attracted public attention and prestige • Still… China has no explicit ‘Space Policy’, but logical planning and measured pace