09 April 2018
Taikonaut Chen Dong said in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) that the space station era has set higher requirements for the astronauts. "The manned space program has entered the space station era, which means that the astronauts will stay in space for a longer time with more tasks to be performed. This has set higher requirements for our physical condition, knowledge, mental status and skills, and brought more challenges," said Chen, who carried out Shenzhou-11 mission in 2016.
MORE on CCTV ... (interview in Mandarin but storyline in English)

10 April 2018
Beijing-based military expert Zhou Chenming said Vanuatu would not be suitable for a military base, but China was planning to test more rockets – many of which come down in the sparsely populated South Pacific – and would need a monitoring and control station in the region. “China needs a space control station in the South Pacific because it is going to launch more heavy rockets,” Zhou said.
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10 April 2018
The first group of China's Yaogan-31 remote sensing satellites were sent into space on 10 April at 12:25 h Beijing time from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The satellites were carried by a Long March-4C rocket, the 271st mission for the Long March rocket family.
The mission also sent a micro nano technology experiment satellite into orbit.
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12 April 2018
The Chang'e 4 lunar probe will carry a tin containing seeds of potato and arabidopsis, a small flowering plant related to cabbage and mustard, and probably some silkworm eggs to conduct the first biological experiment on the Moon. The "lunar mini biosphere" experiment was designed by 28 Chinese universities, led by southwest China's Chongqing University, a conference on scientific and technological innovation of Chongqing Municipality has heard.
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