When China’s first astronaut, Yang Liwei, went into space in 2003, it was a significant event that showed China was becoming a strong presence in space exploration.
China has become a big player in space after twenty years, which matches its increasing power and influence in the economy, politics, and military on Earth. Now, there is a space station that is always in orbit. People live and work there all the time.
On Thursday, three Chinese astronauts flew to the Tiangong space station on a spacecraft called Shenzhou-17. They took off from a place called Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, which is in the Gobi Desert. They will stay on the space station for six months.
They are the youngest group of people that China has ever sent to space, and their average age is 38. Their job on the space station includes fixing the broken solar panels caused by space junk. This is the first time Chinese astronauts will be doing repairs outside the station.
This is China’s sixth time sending people on a space mission to its space station since 2021. The new team will replace the Shenzhou-16 astronauts, who have been on the spacecraft since May.
Before the launch, the crew received a grand farewell with government officials and supporters lining the road. The three people in space said hello to the group of people on the ground. The people on the ground were holding Chinese flags and flowers in their hands. A musical group performed songs that celebrate their country, and the people in the audience joined in and sang the songs.
After going to space himself, Yang has helped many Chinese astronauts go on their own space missions. Thursday’s launch was very emotional, and it happened just a few days after the 20th anniversary of his own important flight.
In the last 20 years, it has grown quickly and achieved many great things,” Yang told CNN at the Jiuquan center before the launch.
The Tiangong, or “heavenly palace” in Chinese, was finished last year and is one of two space stations in space right now. The NASA-led International Space Station (ISS) will retire in 2030 after 15 years. This means that there might be no other space station left.
China has said that it will make the Tiangong bigger in the future. They will add three more parts to the existing three. This will allow more astronauts to stay in space together. Right now, it can hold three astronauts at most, while the ISS can accommodate seven astronauts.
Yang said he was very happy to see younger Chinese astronauts called “taikonauts” continuing the work started by previous generations. “He said that the soldiers show the power of our backup force and the potential for the future growth of China’s space industry. ”
Two of the astronauts on the Shenzhou-17 mission, Tang Shengjie (33) and Jiang Xinlin (35), are relatively new to the team. They became astronauts in China’s third group just over three years ago.
Tang Hongbo, a person from China’s second group of astronauts, is leading them.
Tang, who used to fly fighter jets, went to China’s space station in 2021 as part of its first crewed mission. He came back to the Tiangong and made a new record for Chinese astronauts by having the shortest time between two space missions.
Tiangong is a representation of China’s goals and abilities in space. Chinese astronauts couldn’t join the ISS, a project involving the US, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada, for over 20 years.
Since 2011, NASA has not been allowed to work together with China because Congress made a law called the Wolf Amendment, worried about spying. The fact that they were excluded has made Beijing decide to build its own space station.
China wants to work together with other countries in their space station. They are welcoming experiments from other nations. And that offer will be even more attractive once the ISS stops operating, which is planned to happen around 2030.
Leroy Chiao, who used to be an astronaut and led the International Space Station (ISS), mentioned that NASA has teamed up with various private organizations to build new space stations. These stations would be run by NASA astronauts. “But we will have to wait and see how everything progresses,” he told CNN.
Other countries that take part in space travel, including sending humans into space, have been having discussions with China. And if they are the only option available, these companies or countries can only be part of space travel for humans. This will be the case until NASA helps fund and launch commercial space stations that are ready to be used.
For many years, Beijing has been using its increasing power in space to offer partnerships and chances for growth to other countries.
China and the United States are competing with each other in various areas including economy, technology, and global politics. Now, they have also started competing in space exploration as it has become an important aspect of their power struggle.
After the Soviet Union’s space program ended, the US became the top leader in space. Recently, people in the US who watch and work in politics have been saying that China’s space abilities are growing quickly and might challenge America’s power.
That worry has gotten stronger because of several important and well-known accomplishments by China.
In 2019, China was the first country to reach and land on the side of the moon that we usually can’t see from Earth. In 2021, China became the second country, after the US, to successfully land a working rover on Mars.
China has further goals beyond what has already been mentioned. Next year, it wants to bring back the first samples ever taken from the other side of the moon. By the end of this decade, it plans to send people to the moon and create a research center there that people from different countries can use. Some countries, such as Russia, Venezuela, and South Africa, have apparently joined a planned lunar station.
Chiao, a former NASA astronaut, mentioned that the biggest hurdle for China’s space program is gaining the practical knowledge and skills that an organization like NASA already has.
For many years, we have been using spacecraft, space shuttles, and space stations. And we have a lot of experience and knowledge in training astronauts to work in space – and that’s where they are behind,” he said.