Three Chinese astronauts began a six-month mission to work on the country’s new space station.
It’s China’s latest step to become a space superpower in the coming decades.
What is the Tiangong space station?
Last year, China put the first module of its Tiangong or “Heavenly Palace” space station into orbit. And it plans to add more modules, such as the Mengtian science lab, by the end of the year.
Next year, it will launch a space telescope, called Xuntian. It will orbit close to the space station and dock with it for maintenance and resupply.
Tiangong will have its own power, propulsion, life support systems and housing.
China is the third country in history to put astronauts in space and build a space station, after the Soviet Union (now Russia) and the US.
The country has high ambitions for Tiangong and hopes it will replace the International Space Station (ISS), which is due to be decommissioned in 2031.
Chinese astronauts are excluded from the ISS because US law prohibits NASA, the US space agency, from sharing data with China.
China’s plans to get to the Moon and Mars
China’s ambitions do not stop there. In a few years, she wants to sample near-Earth asteroids.
By 2030, it intends to put its first astronauts on the Moon and send probes to collect samples from Mars and Jupiter.
What are other countries doing?
As China expands its role in space, several other countries are also aiming to reach the Moon.
NASA intends to return to the Moon with astronauts from the US and other countries starting in 2025, and has already deployed its new giant rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Japan, South Korea, Russia, India and the United Arab Emirates are also working on their own missions to the Moon.
India has launched its second major lunar mission and wants to have its own space station by 2030.
Meanwhile, the European Space Agency, which is working with NASA on missions to the Moon, is also planning a network of lunar satellites to facilitate astronaut communication with Earth.
Who makes the rules for space?
– The 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty says that no place in space can be claimed by any nation;
– The 1979 UN Moon Agreement provides that space should not be exploited commercially, but the US, China and Russia refused to sign;
– Now the US is promoting the Artemis Agreement, explaining how nations can explore the Moon’s minerals cooperatively;
– Russia and China will not sign the Artemis Agreement, arguing that the US has no right to make the rules for space.
What is China’s history in space?
China put its first satellite into orbit in 1970 — when it was experiencing major turmoil caused by the Cultural Revolution.
The only other powers that reached space at this stage were the US, the Soviet Union, France and Japan.
In the last 10 years, China has launched more than 200 rockets.
It has already sent an unmanned mission to the Moon, called Chang’e 5, to collect rock samples. And it hoisted a Chinese flag on the lunar surface — which was purposefully larger than previous US flags.
With the launch of Shenzhou 14, China has already sent 14 astronauts into space, compared to 340 from the US and over 130 from the Soviet Union (now Russia).
But there were setbacks. In 2021, part of a Chinese rocket went out of orbit and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, and two failed launches in 2020.
Who is paying for China’s space program?
Chinese state media Xinhua said at least 300,000 people worked on China’s space projects — nearly 18 times as many as currently work for NASA.
The National Space Administration of China was created in 2003 with an initial annual budget of 2 billion yuan (US$300 million).
However, in 2016, China opened up its space industry to private companies, which are now investing more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) a year, according to Chinese media.
Why is China going into space?
China wants to develop its satellite technology for telecommunications, air traffic management, weather forecasting, navigation and more.
But many of its satellites also serve military purposes. They can help the country spy on rival powers and guide long-range missiles.
Lucinda King, space projects manager at the University of Portsmouth in the UK, says China is not just focusing on high-profile space missions.
“They are prolific in all aspects of space. They have the political motivation and the resources to fund their planned programs.”
China’s missions to the moon are partly motivated by opportunities to extract rare earth metals from its surface.
However, Professor Sa’id Mosteshar, director of the London Institute for Space Policy and Law at the University of London, UK, says it probably wouldn’t pay for China to send repeated mining missions to the Moon.
Instead, he says China’s space program is driven more by a desire to impress the rest of the world.
“It’s a projection of power and a demonstration of technological advancement.”
Additional reporting by Jeremy Howell and Tim Bowler.
