China
2022.11.30 11:52 GMT+8

The Chinese are realizing their space dream

Updated 2022.11.30 11:52 GMT+8
Gong Zhe

The Shenzhou-15 crew members gather with the Shenzhou-14 teammates in China's space station, November 30, 2022. /CFP

As China's manned space program finishes the assembly of the Tiangong space station, the Chinese people are pushing one step further toward realizing their space dream.

Tuesday's successful launch of the Shenzhou-15 manned spacecraft is the last step for the assembly of the space station, set to be completed by the end of 2022.

One of the taikonauts for the mission, 56-year-old Deng Qingming, finally realized his space dream after 25 years of hardcore training.

After the three manned missions and four cargo missions, the Chinese people have finally built their habitat in space, realizing a dream that goes back thousands of years.

Like people from all other ancient civilizations, the ancient Chinese gazed at the stars and wondered what they were.

Stories were told about the shiny objects in the night sky, including the biggest of them all – the moon. And Chang'e, the name of China's moon project, is named after the goddess of the moon.

Chinese ancestors also tried to go to space with ancient technology. Wan Hu, an alchemist and firearms expert for the emperor, built the world's first "launch vehicle," tying 47 gunpowder-filled rockets to a chair. Unfortunately, he died in the attempt.

Centuries later, Chinese rocket designers and engineers have made many types of Long March carrier rockets, sending many Chang'e probes to the moon, and even brought back lunar soil.

In addition, China has successfully launched its first Mars rover, the Zhurong, which is still exploring the red planet.

Space technology has helped modern Chinese to live a better life. The Gaofen satellites took high-resolution images of Earth, which then became digital maps in smartphones. The navigation functions can be handled by the Beidou Navigation Satellite System.

China has also launched the world's first satellite for quantum communication, which utilizes quantum entanglement to avoid being tapped.

"Nearly two decades have passed since Yang Liwei's launch. Time flies," said a Zhihu.com user, citing the first taikonaut in history.

"Everything is possible if we have [a] dream," said another Zhihu.com user. "Everything can be done if we try hard enough."

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