The fierce space race between the United States and the Soviet Union had left behind Beijing, which launched its first manned space flight in 2003, more than 40 years after NASA’s achievement.
But in recent decades, as China has grown richer and more powerful, its space program has accelerated.
Buoyed by billions of dollars in government investment, Beijing has fired space labs and satellites into orbit and even become the first country to send an unmanned rover to the far side of the moon.
Private Chinese companies are also investing in space research and technology, with the country’s first successful private rocket launch taking place in May 2018.
Even greater ambitions are on the horizon — Beijing is working toward sending astronauts to the moon and, eventually, Mars.
“China is just bigger than everyone else — they have more people, they have more engineers, they have more scientists,” said Blaine Curcio, founder of Hong Kong-based space industry research firm Orbital Gateway Consulting.
“The implication is that, if they keep getting better at scale, they are probably going to be come the leading power at some point. It’s just a matter of time.”
‘We too shall make satellites’
It took just over 10 years for China to launch its first satellite, the Dongfanghong-1 — The East is Red 1 — on April 24, 1970, at the peak of the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.
Aided by the economic reforms of the 1980s, China’s space program quietly progressed until the launch of the first manned mission in 2003. Since then, China has sent six crews into space and launched two space labs into Earth’s orbit.
The Yutu 2 rover’s primary purpose was research — exploring an area previously untouched by humanity and answering questions such as whether the moon’s poles have water or other resources.
In a statement, China’s National Space Administration said the landing “opened a new chapter in humanity’s exploration of the moon.”
It also showed just how far Chinese space technology had come.
Billion-dollar tech race
There are no official public figures on China’s investment in space exploration but consulting firm Euroconsult estimates it to be about $5.8 billion (40 million yuan) for 2019.
That might seem ambitious, but space consultant Curcio said that China has been on track for its space plans. “If you look at what they were saying 10 years ago … they’ve been pretty much hitting those targets,” he said.
It it’s not only the government taking part in the space race, either.
“There is such good soil in China now,” said Mao Chao, president of OneSpace. “People are positive and enthusiastic about aerospace and the government is supporting and guiding us … China will certainly catch up with and surpass US aerospace.”
Curcio said that in his estimation, the Chinese space program was perhaps now only 10 to 15 years behind the US’s in terms of technology.
“They’ve caught up rather quickly,” he said.
CNN’s James Griffiths contributed to this article.
Source : Nbcnewyork