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Space program reaches for the stars中国航天:飞向太空的壮丽征程导读:今年是中华人民共和国成立70周年;中国航天,也已经走过63年。回头看来,它的每一幕依然激动人心。长征、东方红、尖兵、实践、风云、中星、神舟、天舟、天宫、悟空、墨子、张衡、嫦娥……这些航天任务单看优雅别致的名字已经让人印象深刻,而背后的成就更是不可思议。
![]() Source: China National Space Administration The past decades have seen China make progress with its space program, especially in lunar exploration and manned spaceflights. And now Mars is in sight. Manned expeditions On Oct 15, 2003, the nation carried out its first manned space mission, sending Yang Liwei on a 21-hour journey around Earth in the Shenzhou V spacecraft. Since then, China has conducted six manned spaceflights, totaling 68 days and orbiting Earth 1,089 times, while the nation’s astronauts have traveled more than 46 million km in space and conducted more than 100 experiments. According to government plans, the nation will start putting together its first manned space station around 2020. The station, named Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, is expected to be fully operational around 2022, with a planned operational lifetime of about 15 years, according to the China Academy of Space Technology. Lunar aspirations China has launched four lunar probes since 2007, with the third being the first Chinese spacecraft to land on the moon’s surface. The latest and most remarkable, the ongoing Chang’e 4 mission, is the first endeavor by any nation to conduct surface observation of the moon’s far side, which never faces Earth, reaching a goal scientists have sought for decades. The Chang’e 4 robotic probe was lifted atop a Long March 3B rocket in early December and made a soft landing on the moon’s far side on Jan 3. The next step in China’s lunar exploration agenda, the Chang’e 5 mission, will take place in the coming months. A rover will collect samples of lunar soil and return with them to Earth. If the mission succeeds, it will make China the third nation to bring back lunar samples, after the United States and Russia. Mars exploration Now, China aims to explore deep space. Mars will be the key focus of China’s future deep-space plans. Researchers are preparing for the country’s first exploratory mission to the red planet, scheduled for 2020. According to the China National Space Administration, China’s first Martian probe will conduct scientific investigations of the Martian soil, geological structure, environment, atmosphere and water. In the second phase of China’s Mars exploration program, a larger probe will set off for Mars around 2030 to collect samples and then return to Earth, said Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the space administration.
21menbetx体育网站版权说明 (Translator & Editor: Wang Xingwei AND Luo Sitian)
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