Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Long March-5 ready for first liftoff.
Credit: CASC via GBTimesThis year alone has seen a series of noteworthy successes in China’s blossoming space program.

It was a big year for China’s space program.

A Chinese checklist of successes includes their longest piloted space mission; first use of a new Kennedy Space Center-like spaceport, the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island off China’s southern coast; maiden flights of the Long March-7 and their heavy-lifter, the Long March-5.

Shoot for the moon

Both boosters are essential to an expansive space agenda – one dedicated to lofting and sustaining that nation’s multi-modular space station as well as, quite literally, shooting for the Moon.

2013 group shot…China’s Chang’e 3 lander and Yutu rover.
Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences

And there’s more to come…take a read of my new Scientific American article:

China’s Big Year in Space Sparks Excitement and Speculation

The Chinese space agency launched a new space lab, sent up its longest crewed mission ever and tested out powerful new rockets

By Leonard David on November 30, 2016

Go to:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-rsquo-s-big-year-in-space-sparks-excitement-and-speculation/