As soon as the countdown ends and the ship takes off, the ground beneath our feet will shake. Rocket launchers belched flames, lighting up the Gobi Desert with a deafening roar.
The BBC received a rare opportunity to enter the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu, just over one kilometer away from launch.
The Shenzhou 19 spacecraft consists of three astronauts who are the latest in a series of explorers to travel to China’s homegrown space station, Tiangong.
They will use it as a base for six months to conduct experiments and spacewalks as China attempts to gain experience and intelligence for its mission that will eventually land a Chinese man on the moon in 2030.
Just two years ago, President Xi Jinping declared that “exploring the vast universe, developing the aerospace industry, and building a powerful aerospace nation are our eternal dreams.”
But some in Washington see the country’s ambitions and rapid progress as a real threat.
Earlier this year, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the United States and China were “effectively in a race” to return to the moon, and he was concerned that Beijing wanted to stake territorial claims on the moon.
He told lawmakers he believed their civilian space program was also a military program.
“Dreams shine with glory”
Yet at the Dongfeng Space City, built to support the launch site, China’s space program is being celebrated.
Every street lamp is decorated with a national flag.
Cartoon-like astronaut statues and sculptures sit in the center of children’s parks, and plastic rockets are the centerpieces of most traffic circles.
As you drive into the main courtyard, there is a huge poster of Xi Jinping on one side and a photo of the Shenzhou spacecraft on the other.
Hundreds of people gathered in the darkness after midnight, waving flags and brightly colored lights, as the astronauts took their final steps on Earth before heading to the launch site.
The brass band played “Ode to the Motherland” like little children who stayed up late with Chinese flags on their cheeks and chanted in unison.
This is a moment of national pride.
The pilot of this mission, Cai Xuzhe, is a veteran, but he flew with a new generation of Chinese astronauts born in 1990, including China’s first female space engineer Wang Haoze.
“Their youthful energy makes me feel younger and even more confident,” he told the assembled media before takeoff.
“Dreams ignite glory, and glory ignites new dreams. We pledge to the party and the people that they will not forget their original aspirations, keep their mission in mind, and work wholeheartedly.” We will work hard to promote my country’s manned spaceflight industry to achieve new achievements.
Song Lingdong stood on his left, smiling broadly.
He recalled watching China’s first space station mission when he was 13 years old, feeling “excited and awed.” He chose to become a pilot in the hope of serving his country.
All three expressed deep national pride, with state media stressing that they would be the “youngest crew members” to date.
The message is clear: this is a new generation of space travelers and an investment in the country’s future.
China has selected its next batch of astronauts, who will train for potential moon missions as well as space station astronauts.
“I am determined to live up to the trust everyone has placed in me,” Song said. “I will work to make our country’s name shine in space again.”
China’s name has been shining brightly lately when it comes to headlines about its space program.
Earlier this year, the country achieved a historic first by retrieving rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon.
In 2021, China safely landed a spacecraft on Mars and released the Zhurong rover, becoming the second country to achieve this goal.
China also has a number of satellites in space and plans to build more.
In August this year, the company launched its first batch of 18 satellites, hoping to eventually form a constellation of 14,000 satellites to provide broadband network coverage from space and hope to one day rival SpaceX’s Starlink.
Starlink CEO Musk admitted on his platform X that China’s space program is much more advanced than people realize.
But others in the United States have expressed greater concern, fearing the technology could be weaponized.
Gen. Stephen Whiting, head of U.S. Space Command, told a space symposium in April that both China and Russia were investing heavily in space at an “alarming pace.”
He claimed that since 2018, China has tripled the number of its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites in orbit, establishing a “kill network” in the Pacific to detect, locate, track and target the United States and its Allied military capabilities”.
new space race
Li Yingliang, director of the China Manned Space Engineering General Technology Bureau, said that China’s space exploration is “the collective mission of mankind” and he believes that the United States’ concerns are “unnecessary.”
“I don’t think this should be called competition… China has long upheld the concept of peaceful use of space in its manned space program. In the future, we will further develop various aspects of manned space technology based on sharing and collaboration. international cooperation.
But the new space race is no longer about landing on the moon. The question is who will control its resources.
The moon contains minerals, including rare earths, metals like iron and titanium, and helium, which is used in everything from superconductors to medical devices.
Estimates of the value of all these vary widely, ranging from billions to quadrillions. So it’s easy to see why some people see the moon as a place to make a lot of money. However, it’s also important to note that this will be a very long-term investment – and the technology required to extract and return these lunar resources is still some way off, BBC Science Editor Rebecca Morelle writes.
Chinese experts at the launch center are keen to point out the benefits of experiments at the Beijing space station.
“We study bones, muscles, nerve cells and the effects of microgravity on them. Through this research, we discovered that osteoporosis on Earth is actually similar to bone loss in space. If we can discover the unique model, we may be able to develop special drugs to combat bone loss and muscle atrophy,” said Zhang Wei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“Many of these experimental results can be applied to Earth.”
China has sometimes tried to downplay its progress.
Ding Chibiao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences launched a roadmap for its space ambitions, which includes building a research station on the moon, returning samples of Venus’ atmosphere to Earth and launching more than 30 space missions by mid-century. ”, the country has not achieved a lot.
Even at the launch center, they admit they face “significant challenges” in trying to land astronauts on the moon.
“The technology is complex, the construction period is tight, and there are many challenges,” said Lin Xiqiang, spokesperson of the China Manned Space Engineering Bureau.
“We will continue to maintain the spirit of ‘two bombs and one satellite’. We will maintain our confidence and determination to strive for self-improvement, continue to work together and keep moving forward. We will make the Chinese people’s dream of landing on the moon a reality in the near future.
That may be why President Xi Jinping appears to be prioritizing the country’s space program even as the economy slowly declines.
Although they invited international media to witness their progress, there were some key limitations.
Instead of staying at the launch site for a few hours, we were put up in a hotel three hours away from the launch site and took a bus there and back, a total of 12 hours.
A simple trip to a friendly local restaurant is carefully guarded by a line of security guards.
We also noticed a large sign in town with a stern warning: “It is a crime to reveal secrets. It is an honor to keep secrets. If you reveal secrets, you will go to jail. If you keep secrets, you will go to jail.” Be happy. If you give away secrets, you will be shot.
China is not taking any chances with its new technologies because its competition with the United States is no longer limited to Earth.
Two of the world’s most powerful countries may soon be making territorial claims beyond Earth.