Space Race Peaks China’s Interest
China has always had a fascination with space and some of the most prominent astronomers of the past have been Chinese. Despite the country’s fascination with the skies the country has not been quick to ramp up its own space program although it was the third country to send a person into orbit in 2003. In 2008 a Chinese astronaut named Zhai Zhigang, a Colonel in the Chinese armed forces became the first Chinese citizen to successfully complete a space walk and since then the country has been hard at work improving its space program.
With millions of dollars put into its space programs and minor assistance from the international community on a China visa, it’s now expected that the Chinese will launch their own space station into orbit sometime in 2011 or in early 2012 which will involve the docking of an unmanned spaceship with further modules likely sent into space for manned dockings in future years. The Chinese space station is expected to be a type of copy of the International Space Station which was created through the combined efforts of Russian and the United States with a handful of other international influences.
Not only has the Chinese space program blasted into orbit but there has been a significant increase in the education of Chinese children in astronomy and a six million dollar space center was constructed south of Beijing where young children are able to experience a simulated space ship launch in miniature control room. Although the country has thus far been quite interested in getting a space program up and running, it’s likely that it will take several years for the Chinese to catch up with Russia and the United States as far as size and technology is concerned.
