China declares success in space flight as youngest astronaut

A Chinese spacecraft with three crew members, including China’s first female space engineer, successfully docked after a six-hour flight.

The crew will use the homegrown space station as a base for six months to conduct experiments and perform spacewalks while China gathers experience and information for its final mission to send a man to the moon by 2030.

The Shenzhou 19 launch is one of 100 planned by China in a record year for space exploration as it seeks to surpass its rival the United States.

The BBC had rare access to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu and we were just over a kilometer away when the spacecraft launched.

Flames shot up into the sky from the rocket launcher, lighting up the Gobi Desert, and a deafening roar rang out.

Hundreds of people lined the streets, waving and cheering taikonauts, the Chinese name for astronauts, as they were seen off.

Just two years ago, President Xi Jinping declared, “It is our eternal dream to explore the vastness of space, develop the space industry, and build China into a space power.”

But some in Washington see the country’s ambitions and rapid progress as a real threat.

Earlier this year, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the United States and China were in a “virtual race to get back to the moon,” and he was concerned that China would want to assert its territorial claims.

He told lawmakers he believes the civilian space program is also a military program.

But in Dongfeng Space City, a town built to support the launch site, China’s space program is being celebrated.

Every street lamp is decorated with a national flag.

Cartoon astronaut figurines and sculptures occupy the center of children’s parks, and plastic rockets are at the center of most traffic roundabouts.

A huge poster of Xi Jinping on one side and a photo of the Shenzhou spacecraft on the other greet you as you drive into the main building.

Hundreds of people gathered in the dark after midnight, waving flags and brightly colored lights, as the Taikonauts took their last few steps on Earth before heading to the launch site.

The brass band sang the hymn to the motherland when they were young, and then they stayed up late and sang with Chinese flags on their cheeks.

It is a moment of national pride.

The mission’s pilot, Cai

“Thanks to their youthful energy, I have become younger and more confident,” he said to the gathered media ahead of takeoff.

“Thanks to the dreams that bring glory and the glory that ignites new dreams, we pledge to the Party and the people that we will faithfully carry out our mission with our whole heart and mind. “We will strive to achieve new achievements in China’s manned space program.”

To his left stands Song Lingdong, smiling brightly.

He recalls watching one of China’s first space station missions at age 13 with “excitement and awe.” He chose to become a pilot in the hope that this would be a way for him to serve his country.

All three convey a deep sense of national pride, with state media highlighting that they will be the ‘youngest flight attendants’ to date.

The message is clear. This is an investment in a new generation of space travelers and in our nation’s future.

China has already selected its next group of astronauts and they will train for potential lunar missions and space station crews.

Mr. Song said, “I will not betray your trust in me.” “We will work hard to make our country’s name shine in space once again.”

China’s name has often been “shining brightly” in recent headlines about its space program.

Earlier this year, our country achieved a historic first by collecting rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon.

In 2021, China safely landed a spacecraft on Mars and launched the Jurong rover. This makes it only the second country to do so.

China also has numerous satellites in space and is planning more.

In August it launched the first 18 of a constellation of 14,000 satellites to provide broadband internet service from space, and hopes to one day rival SpaceX’s Starlink.

Starlink CEO Elon Musk acknowledged in his Platform X that China’s space program is much more advanced than people think.

But others in the United States are expressing even greater concern, fearing the technology could be weaponized.

Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, said at a space symposium in April that both China and Russia are investing heavily in space at a “remarkable pace.”

He said that since 2018, China has tripled the amount of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites in orbit, “building a kill web over the Pacific to locate, fix, track and target U.S. and allied military capabilities.” claimed.

China’s space exploration is a “collective mission for humanity,” said Li Yingliang, director of the General Technology Department of China’s Manned Space Administration, dismissing U.S. concerns as “unnecessary.”

“I don’t think we should call this a competition… China has long championed the concept of peaceful use of space in its manned space program. He added, “We will continue to further develop international cooperation in various aspects of manned space technology based on sharing and cooperation.”

But the new space race is no longer just about lunar exploration. It’s about who will control the resources.

The moon contains rare earths, metals such as iron and titanium, and minerals including helium, which are used in everything from superconductors to medical equipment.

Estimates of the value of all this vary widely, from billions to trillions. So it’s easy to see why some people see the moon as a place where they can make a lot of money. However, it is also important to remember that this will be a very long-term investment, and the technology needed to extract and return these lunar resources is some distance away. BBC science editor Rebecca Morelle writes..

Chinese experts at the launch center were keen to point out the benefits of Beijing’s space station experiments.

“We study bones, muscles, nerve cells and how microgravity affects them. Through this study, we discovered that osteoporosis on Earth is actually similar to bone loss in space. “If we can discover unique patterns in space, we may be able to develop special drugs to prevent bone loss and muscle atrophy,” said Zhang Wei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“Many of these experimental results can be applied to Earth.”

China sometimes tries to underestimate its own development.

Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Ding Chibiao announces roadmap for space ambitions, including building a research base on the Moon, returning atmospheric samples from Venus to Earth and launching more than 30 space missions by mid-century Achievements “Compared to developed countries”, Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Ding Chibiao He said he could not collect it.

And even here at the launch center, they acknowledged “significant challenges” in landing a crew on the moon.

“The technology is complex, the schedule is tight and the challenges are many,” said Lin Xiqiang, spokesperson for the China Manned Space Agency.

“We will continue the ‘two bombs and one star’ spirit. We will maintain our confidence and commitment to self-improvement, continue to work together, and continue to push forward. “We will make the Chinese people’s dream of landing on the moon a reality in the near future.”

That may be why President Xi Jinping appears to be prioritizing China’s space program even as its economy is in slow decline.

And even if they mobilize international media to follow their progress, there are major limitations.

We stayed in a hotel for 3 hours at the launch site, and instead of staying on site for a few hours, we traveled by bus back and forth, which took a total of 12 hours.

A simple trip to a friendly local restaurant was carefully guarded by a line of security guards.

We also noticed a large sign downtown with a stern warning: “It is a crime to reveal secrets. It’s an honor to be able to keep this secret. If you reveal a secret, you will be thrown in jail. If you keep your secret, you will be happy. “If you sell your secrets, you will be shot.”

China is not venturing into new technologies because its competition with the United States is no longer just on Earth.

Two of the world’s most powerful nations may soon be claiming territory beyond this planet.