China’s space mission shows growing ambitions

CHINA: China's latest space mission is its most ambitious yet and shows Beijing's resolve to increase its technological capabilities and bridge the gap with the United States and Russia, experts say. The Shenzhou-9 rocket blasted off from the Gobi desert on Saturday with three astronauts on board -- including, for the first time, a woman -- to conduct China's first manned space docking, the latest step towards setting up a space station.

The mission marks a huge stride forward for China, which in 1999 kicked off its manned space programme with the launch of Shenzhou-1 (“Divine Vessel” in Chinese) with no crew on board.

Two years later, Shenzhou-2 lifted off with small animals aboard, and in 2003, China sent its first man into space. Since then, it has completed a space walk in 2008 and an unmanned docking between a module and rocket last year.

But the latest mission is even more technically demanding, as astronauts will have to control the space docking manually.

The procedure will put the spacecraft's manual control system to the test and demands huge operational accuracy from the astronauts, Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's manned space programme, told reporters.

“This is China's most ambitious space mission so far. It is longer and more complex than anything previously done,” said Morris Jones, an Australian space expert.

“It shows that China is serious about its long-term goals in space.” Successful completion of the docking -- a highly technical procedure that requires two vessels to gently come together in high speed orbit -- will take China one step closer to building its own space station in 2020.

The mission has also taken on a symbolic dimension as Shenzhou-9 is carrying Liu Yang, China's first ever female astronaut to go to space.

The Asian powerhouse has even bigger ambitions of sending astronauts to the moon, although nothing has yet been set in stone.

Nevertheless, China -- which in the 1980s was focused solely on developing satellites -- continues to play catch-up with Russia and the United States.

“It will still take at least another decade before China reaches a comparable level to Russia or the USA in space flight,” said Jones.

Just like it did for its first manned space flight, China is having to master key manoeuvres and tasks that the Americans and Russians successfully completed way back in the 1960s, as it races towards creating a space station.

AFP