English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Russian
Spanish
Urdu
The Long March-2F Y13 rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft and three astronauts in China’s second crewed mission to build its own space station, launches at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near Jiuquan, Gansu province, Oct. 16, 2021.
China’s is extending its space program to other countries in ways that its superpower rival, the United States, finds hard to match and that stand to isolate the U.S. on earth, experts say.
The vehicle propelling Beijing’s international plans for space diplomacy, the Shenzhou-13, blasted off Friday with a crew of three onboard.
The spacecraft is the core module of China’s space station and will stay in space for six months. State-run Xinhua News Agency said this journey begins the longest spaceflight ever for China. The crew will check all space station systems and help complete its construction by the end of next year.
Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, China, Oct. 16, 2021, shows three Chinese astronauts waving after entering the space station core module Tianhe.
Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, China, Oct. 16, 2021, shows three Chinese astronauts waving after entering the space station core module Tianhe.
The space station will become a “platform for deeper international cooperation” and “welcome” foreign astronauts, the Beijing-based China Daily news website said.
“My sense is that this is good PR for China,” said Marco Cáceres, director of space studies at the Teal Group market analysis firm. “Already, you see that there is a space race developing between the U.S. and China.”
China launched its first satellite in 1970 and put its first astronaut in space in 2003, becoming the world’s third nation, after Russia and the United States, to do so. U.S. officials, among others, worry that China is looking to space for military use and would need to get congressional approval for any Sino-American space cooperation.
