6. China Has Big Plans For The Moon
On Sunday 24 July 2022, China launched a 23-tonne research lab module called the Wentian, or Quest for the Heavens, to its newly built space station Tiangong, signaling another step in China becoming a leading space power. That wasn’t the first time they announced to the world their intentions for the moon.
In October 2003, major general, military pilot, and People’s Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) taikonaut Yang Liwei became the first person sent into space by the Chinese space program. Ever since then, the Chinese government has ramped up its ambitions to exploit Earth-Moon space for industrial development with its Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. By January 2019, they achieved humanity’s first soft landing on the far side of the Moon with its Chang’e 4 robotic spacecraft. Will NASA continues to probe the universe with the James Webb Space Telescope, China continues to make even bigger and bolder plans for the Moon.
