TIMES LINE OF CHINA’S SPACE JOURNEY

China has come a long way since the founding of its space programme in 1956. Here are some key milestones in China’s space odyssey, and a look at the missions ahead:

1970s: ROCKETS

The country introduced its Long March series of rockets in 1970. The programme’s success rate of about 95 per cent makes it a cornerstone of China’s space endeavours. It has had a few setbacks, notably a Long March 5 rocket that plunged into the Pacific minutes after takeoff in July 2017.

2003: FIRST ASTRONAUT

Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut in space in October 2003. China was only the third country, after Russia and the US, to conduct a crewed mission. The country has sent 11 astronauts, including two women, on six missions in all.

2011: SPACE LABORATORY

China was excluded from the International Space Station largely due to concerns over its space program’s connections to the military and U.S. legislation barring such cooperation. That didn’t stop China from launching in 2011 its own space laboratory, named Tiangong (“Heavenly Palace”), which orbited Earth until last April. The station hosted two crewed missions and served as a test platform for docking procedures and other operations.

2013: TO THE MOON AND BACK

Chang’e 1, named after a mythological Chinese moon deity, first circled the moon in 2007. Successive lunar missions have included a moon landing in 2013, the first since the former Soviet Union’s Luna 24 in 1976. There are plans for a Chang’e 5 probe to reach the moon next year and return to Earth with samples.

2020: WHAT’S NEXT?

The year 2020 promises to be a big one for China’s space programme. It plans to send its first probe to Mars and complete a homegrown global navigation network.

The latter will link more than 30 satellites providing realtime geospatial information worldwide — China’s answer to GPS.

By 2022:

China hopes to complete a space station fit for long-term habitation, with standards matching those of the International Space Station, though smaller in size. And moon development? The National Space Administration declared in a video last April, “China’s dream of residing in a lunar palace will soon become a reality.”