04 May 2017
China’s Communist Party has decided that veterans of the country’s space programme have the right stuff for promotion to important political roles in key provinces. Giving new meaning to the term high-flier, four aerospace engineers have become provincial governors in the past four years.
Ma Xingrui, a former general manager of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC), became governor of Guangdong, the province with the biggest economy, last year. Xu Dazhe, a fellow with the International Academy of Astronautics, has governed the central province of Hunan from around the same time. Two years ago, Chen Qiufa, who oversaw the country’s space programme until 2013, was made governor of Liaoning and tasked with reviving the rust-belt province. Last week, former China Academy of Space Technology president Yuan Jiajun, who was also chief commander of China’s Shenzhou manned space programme, was appointed acting governor of Zhejiang, a hub of private business and the power base of President Xi Jinping.
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05 May 2017
Aviation enthusiasts' adventures are no longer limited to traveling by airplane. They can now rise to the Earth's stratosphere in a helium balloon and fall back in a parachute, as a new space diving program, the first of its kind in China, is bringing new consumer trends into space.
A space dive project, operated by Space Exploration Inc and the Space Dive Organizing Committee, was launched recently in Beijing as China's first near-space program.
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05 May 2017
By the end of April, the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND), invited top lunar project officials Wu Weiren and Ye Peijian, to a expert committee meeting to discuss the next steps for lunar exploration. While the plans for Chang'e 4 and 5 are known by now, little was public about the Chang'e-6 mission. Chang'e-6 is supposed to follow Chang'e 4's landing on the far side of the Moon and would likely also target the scientifically significant South Pole-Aitken Basin.
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06 May 2017
Life is a composite of dreams. Some come true, many don’t. When Liu Yang was a child, she dreamed of becoming a bus conductor, a doctor or a teacher. Reality exceeded dreams. She became China’s first female astronaut. When Liu was in her final year of high school, her head teacher recommended her when China was recruiting for female air force pilots. The honor acknowledged her excellent academic record and good eyesight. Against fierce competition, she was admitted to the People’s Liberation Army Air Force Aviation College at Changchun Aviation University.
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