Planetary mandarins?

The sands of the Gobi DesertThe largest desert in Asia, covering over 500,000 square miles. shook as the Long March-2F rocket roared into life. The launch team watched anxiously as the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft headed into the sky. On board, the three astronautsCheng Dong, Liu Yang (China's first woman in space) and Cai Xuzhe. felt the pull of gravity for the last time in six months. In seven hours, they would reach their destination: the first non-American, non-Russian space station.

China decided to build the Tiangong, or "Heavenly Palace", station in 2011 after the US government banned its astronauts from the International Space StationA joint project between the US, Russia, Japan, Canada and the European Space Agency.. The Americans were anxious that the Chinese, whose space programme is run by the army, should not have access to their technological secrets.

In April last year, TianheThe name means "Harmony of heavens". - the main part of the Tiangong, containing the living quarters - was sent into orbit. The task of the Shenzhou-14 astronauts is to connect it to two laboratory modules. Once completed, the station will measure just over 100 square metres - a similar size to the Soviet Mir station which operated from the 1980s until 2001.

The International Space Station is scheduled to close in 2024, though it could continue to operate until 2031. Unless another one is launched in the meantime, China will then own the only habitable structure orbiting the Earth.

China's space programme began in 1970, but for a long time lagged far behind those of the USA and Russia. Now, with President Xi Jinping's government investing heavily in it - and also allowing private investment - it is catching up.

In the past 10 years, it has launched over 200 rockets - and since 2018 it has put more into orbit than any other country. It has already sent an unmanned mission to the Moon, consisting of a probe which collected rock samples - and planted a flag bigger than those left by US astronauts.

In 2020, it launched a satellite to complete its Beidon global-navigation system. Next year it will send up a space telescope called Xuntian which will dock with the space station for servicing and refuelling.

Other future aims are to collect samples from asteroids by 2025 and send unmanned probes to Mars and Jupiter by 2030. China wants to develop reusable carrier rockets by 2035 and build a nuclear-powered space shuttle by 2040.

According to a Bloomberg report, "Like China's big infrastructureThe basic systems and services that a country needs to keep it going. projects here on earth, their goals are to get a foothold in space technology that will drive profit, make them independent from US technology, get an upper hand in military operations and show superiority on the world stage."

But the programme has had setbacks. Two rocket launches failed in 2020, and during the launch of Tianhe in 2021, the 22-ton core stage of the rocket spun out of control and landed in the Indian Ocean.

And China faces plenty of competition. The US is building a space station to orbit the Moon, the Lunar Gateway, and India hopes to have a space station by 2030. India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United Arab Emirates all have the Moon in their sights.

Yes: The Chinese space programme has made enormous advances in recent years. With a dictatorial government and huge resources of money and manpower, there is nothing it cannot achieve.

No: China still lags far behind the US, which has more powerful rockets and seven times as many satellites. The US spends far more on space technology and has a booming commercial industry as well.

Or... The International Space Station symbolised an era of cooperation which seems to be coming to an end. Even if no nation comes to dominate space, the rivalry will shape the next phase of exploration.