china space mission

Chinese mission with first civilian reaches space station

31May

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Technology

Chinese mission with first civilian reaches space station

[ad_1] China sent three astronauts to its Tiangong space station on Tuesday, putting a civilian into orbit for the first time as it pursues plans to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030.The world's second-largest economy has invested billions of dollars in its military-run space programme in a push to catch up with the United States and Russia. The Shenzhou-16 crew took off atop a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China at 9:31 am (0131 GMT), AFP journalists saw. They docked at the space station's Tianhe core module on Tuesday afternoon, more than six hours after taking off, state broadcaster CCTV said.The launch was a "complete success" and the "astronauts are in good condition", said Zou Lipeng, director of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Cen...

China plans to land astronauts on moon before 2030, expand space station, bring on foreign partners

[ad_1] China's burgeoning space program plans to place astronauts on the moon before 2030 and expand the country's orbiting space station, officials said Monday.Monday's announcement comes amid against the background of a rivalry with the U.S. for reaching new milestones in outer space, reflecting their competition for influence on global events. That has conjured up memories of the space race between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s, although American spending, supply chains and capabilities are believed to give it a significant edge over China, at least for the present. The U.S. aims to put astronauts back on the lunar surface by the end of 2025 as part of a renewed commitment to crewed missions, aided by private sector players such as SpaceX and Blue Origin...

This Japanese Startup Wants to Become the Moon’s Very Own FedEx

[ad_1] An intensifying US-China space rivalry and Elon Musk’s ambitious Mars program have fired up scores of startups across the world. An intensifying US-China space rivalry and Elon Musk's ambitious Mars program have fired up scores of startups across the world chasing lucrative contracts, as humans race for resources that could foster life beyond Earth.Among those is a small Japanese company seeking to make a mark next month with what could be a first for a commercial firm. Tokyo-based ispace Inc. is scheduled to send a lunar lander as early as Nov. 22, carrying multiple government and commercial payloads, including two rovers. Like Musk's dream for a Martian colony, the startup's grand vision is to build a human settlement on the moon by 2040, but before that it wants to become th...