Ahen the Shenzhou 16 spacecraft lifted off from the Jiuquan Cosmodrome on the edge of the Gobi Desert on Tuesday, state media commentators saw China one step closer to China’s recently announced goal of putting its own taikonaut on the moon by 2030. This is China’s eleventh manned spaceflight, becoming the third country to launch astronauts into space with its own resources since 2003. The goal is the Tiangong (“Heaven’s Palace”) space station, which is now fully operational.
For the first time, the crew of three includes a civilian astronaut who, at least according to official information, does not come from the ranks of the People’s Liberation Army like all other Chinese astronauts up to now. Gui Haichiao, who previously worked at Beihang University, which specializes in aerospace, flies into space as a payload specialist. The mission is scheduled to last five months and will be aimed in particular at experiments with payloads, the state media announced.
Xi Jinping: China to become ‘great space power’
The deputy director of the Chinese space agency Lin Xiqiang announced on Monday that he would send a manned mission to the moon before 2030. China is preparing for a “brief stay on the lunar surface and joint human-robot exploration,” Lin said. The corresponding program has already started. A schedule of two manned missions per year is “sufficient to achieve our goals,” said Lin, who did not provide any more detailed information.
This is also seen as a Chinese reaction to the United States’ announcement that it would send an astronaut to the moon by the end of 2025, the first time since the 1970s. In January, the head of the US space agency NASA, Bill Nelson, warned that China could lay claim to lunar territory “under the guise of scientific research”.
State and party leader Xi Jinping has set the goal of China becoming a “great space power”. Four years ago, China became the first country to land a vehicle on the far side of the moon. The Pentagon warned in a 2022 report that China could surpass America’s capabilities in space by 2045. America rules out NASA collaborating with China. Beijing, in turn, has been working more closely with Russia in this area for several years.
During the Shenzhou-16 mission, there are now said to be two docking and take-off operations. For a few days, the astronauts’ stay will overlap with that of the three astronauts who have been on board the Tiangong station for six months and will then return to Earth. In addition, there will be a docking and departure of the Tianzhou 5 freighter and later the docking of the manned spaceship “Shenzhou 17”. That would be the second manned Chinese space flight this year.
The Tiangong Station, operated by the People’s Liberation Army, was launched two years ago and a third module was added last November. A fourth will follow soon.
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