China is officially an untouchable space champion and now Joins the ranks of only two other world powers in the same league, Russia and United States of America.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) confirmed on Saturday morning that the lander carrying China’s first Mars rover touched down on the red planet.
It is the first time China has landed a probe on a planet other than Earth. This success coincides with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party a sole governing political party of the People’s Republic of China.
Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos, on Saturday commended China’s advancement in space technology.
“Roscosmos welcomes the resumption of exploration of the planets of the solar system by the leading space powers,” Rogozin said in a statement.
China plans to conduct its latest manned spaceflight in June, sending three astronauts to enter the recently launched core module of the nation’s space station and work there for three months, according to a senior space official.
In 2022, two large space labs will be launched to connect with the core module. Moreover, two manned missions and two robotic cargo flights will be made that year to continue construction of the Chinese space station, which is scheduled to become complete and start formal operation around the end of next year.
China’s most adventurous space endeavor, the multimodule space station, named Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, will consist of three main components-a core module attached to two space labs-with a combined weight of nearly 70 metric tons. The entire station is set to work for about 15 years, mission planners have said.
The core module, named Tianhe, or Harmony of Heavens, was lifted by a Long March 5B heavy-lift carrier rocket at the Wenchang launch center on April 29.
The biggest and heaviest spacecraft China has ever constructed, the module is 16.6 meters long and has a diameter of 4.2 meters.
The craft’s weight, at 22.5 tons, is equal to the combined weight of 15 standard-size automobiles. It has three parts-a connecting section, a life-support and control section and a resources section.
