From Mao to Mars, the Chinese “Long March” space

First modification: 04/16/2022 – 08:12Last modification: 04/16/2022 – 08:10

China is investing billions of dollars in its space program, to try to catch up with Europe, the United States and Russia.

Here are the main stages of the Chinese space conquest:

– Mao’s call

Shortly after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit in 1957, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong, declared, “We too will make satellites!

It took more than a decade, but in 1970 China launched its first satellite, Dongfanghong-1 (“Red East-1”), named after a song glorifying Mao.

The rocket that puts the satellite into space is called “Long March”, a name that recalls the journey of the Red Army which allowed Mao to establish himself as the leader of the Chinese Communist Party.

– First Man

In 2003, the Asian giant sent the first Chinese into space, astronaut Yang Liwei, who circled the Earth 14 times in 21 hours.

It is the third country after the Soviet Union and the United States to send a human into space on its own.

– First space module

China has been deliberately excluded from the International Space Station (ISS) program, which brings together Americans, Russians, Europeans, Japanese and Canadians, and decides to build its own station.

To achieve this, it first launches a small space module, Tiangong-1 (“Heavenly Palace 1”), put into orbit in September 2011. It is used for training astronauts and for medical experiments.

Tiangong-1 stopped working in March 2016. The lab was seen as a preliminary step in building a space station.

In 2016, China launched its second Tiangong-2 space module.

Meanwhile, in 2013, China placed the small remote-controlled robot “Jade Rabbit” on the Moon. This is his first success on the earth satellite, where he plans to build a base in collaboration with Russia and send astronauts in 2029.

– Moon and Chinese GPS

The Chinese space program suffered a failure in the summer of 2017 with the failed launch of Long March 5, crucial because it allows to propel the heavy cargoes necessary for certain missions.

This setback led to the three-year postponement of the Chang’e 5 mission. Finally executed in 2020, the mission makes it possible to bring samples from the Moon back to Earth, which had not happened for 40 years.

China had achieved a new success in January 2019 with a world first: the landing of another remote-controlled robot, the “Jade Rabbit 2”, on the far side of the Moon.

The country launched in June 2020 the last satellite which completes its Beidou navigation system (a competitor of the American GPS).

– Mars… and Jupiter

In July 2020, China sent the “Tianwen-1” probe to Mars, carrying a remote-controlled wheeled robot named Zhurong, which reached the surface of Mars in May 2021.

Scientists have conjured up the dream of sending astronauts to Mars in the distant horizon. Even the head of its space agency, Xu Honglian, has mentioned a mission to Jupiter around 2030.

– Space station

In October, a team of three astronauts lifted off for the Chinese space station’s Tianhe core module, which was launched into orbit in April 2021.

This Saturday, six months later, the trio returned to Earth, culminating in the longest manned space mission in Chinese history.

To complete the assembly of the station, called Tiangong (Heavenly Palace, in Chinese), it will take them eleven missions to send more modules and assemble them in orbit.

Once completed, the station is to orbit within 400 to 450 kilometers of the Earth’s surface for about 10 years, with the ambition of maintaining a long-term human presence.

In principle, China does not plan to use its space station for international cooperation, but officials said they are open to collaboration with other countries.

© 2022 AFP