Shenzhou 11 lifts off. Photo: People.com.cn

China’s sixth manned space mission has been launched and this is set to be its longest mission yet, but how what does this mission mean for China and the rest of the world?

At 7:30pm on Monday 17th of October, Jin Haipeng and Chen Dong were launched into space on board the Shenzhou 11. Approximately 19 minutes after take-off, the mission was declared a success by Zhang Youxia, commander in chief of China’s manned space program. The mission of the two astronauts is to reach the Tiangong 2 (Heavenly Palace 2) space station, where they will spend 30 days analyzing plant growth in space and scanning their own bodies’ performance through ultrasounds. These activities are intended to help China reach the goal of launching Tianhe 1, a more permanent space station in 2018.

This mission is deeply significant for a great deal of reasons, not least of which is the level of pride it will no doubt inspire in the people of China. Being the third nation on Earth to send manned missions into space is an impressive achievement by any standard, but when viewed against the backdrop of China’s only recent ascent on the world stage it becomes all the more incredible. Given the recent bad press China has suffered in the West regarding issues such as the South China Sea boundaries, this is a great opportunity as the notes, for China to assert itself not by flexing its muscles, but by portraying itself as a nation that is actively contributing to our understanding of the universe.

Whilst the general response to the launch has been positive, Western media has not been completely trusting in its analysis. Whilst mostly focusing on the basic details of the launch, outlets like The Washington Post have reported on the fact that the Chinese have had to build their own space station due to U.S. Fears of China’s space program having a ‘strongly militaristic character’. These fears are not without cause, given that in the past China has invested heavily in anti-satellite technology that would destroy or disable space-based assets in the event of conflict and even tested this technology in 2007 when it destroyed one of its own defunct satellites, something seen as a shot across the bow by U.S. Military planners.

Indeed the U.S. Secretary of the Defense’s report to Congress in April this year regarding ‘Military and Security Developments in the People’s Republic of China 2016’ devoted a great deal of time to the potential military threat posed by China in Space. The report singled out Vice Chairman Xu Qiliang of the CCP Central Military Commission as having argued that ‘the PLAAF (the People’s Liberation Army Air Force) should lead the development of offensive Space Capabilities’, and went on to document a wide variety of space related activity that it found particularly troubling.

There is also concern that China is winning the 21st century space race in aspects beyond the military. Indeed it would seem that far from slowing down the Chinese, America’s rebuff has actually sped them up. The scale of China’s ambitions in space is dazzling, and while the West grapples with the rise of China on Earth, it would do well to look to the stars as well. As Vikram Mansharamani reports, the Chinese see space a potentially ‘game changing’ source of energy. The moon’s supply of helium-3 (a light, non-radioactive fusion that is virtually non existent on Earth) has caught China’s eye, and they are set to be competing for it with Silicon Valley (themselves spurred by Google’s $30 million XPRIZE).

Western observers have not failed to notice a more positive aspect of this launch however, many of them hailing the new Long March 7 rockets used in the mission as a breakthrough in the use of safer, more environmentally friendly fuels. The rocket uses a RP-1 fuel with liquid oxygen oxidiser. This is a much cheaper alternative to other propellants and also produces more thrust and less waste materials than the highly toxic and unstable hypergolic hydrazine mix used by China’s previous launch vehicles. This would seem to be part of a notable shift by a country with a, shall we say, mixed record on environmental issues. When this aspect of the launch is taken into account alongside China’s ratification of the Paris climate change agreement earlier this year and the governments recent acknowledgments of the country’s outrageous levels of pollution, it appears that we may be seeing a turning point for China on the environment. Only time will tell.

With issues like Syria and the US election taking everybody’s attention, the launch seems to have gotten less coverage than one might usually expect. While the launch itself has been covered by most major outlets, virtually all of this coverage is simply a run through of some of the basic details of the launch, the model of rocket used, the purpose of the mission, etc. There is a general agreement that this launch will be a great source of national pride for the Chinese people but beyond that there is little to be gleaned form most papers, except perhaps a touch of envy?

The Wall Street Journal notes how China’s space program has been growing at a faster and more deliberate rate than any of the other major space powers, and how whilst China is sending its Taikonauts into space on newly developed rockets, America’s astronauts are having to hitch rides with Russia to get to the ISS (International Space Station). If the U.S. is to maintain its profile off of our planet, its going to need to get its groove back and soon. From the looks of things the answer is going to come from Silicon Valley. While it seems doubtful that the U.S. Is about to be overtaken completely, its position as the premier authority could potentially be in danger, particularly when one bears in mind China’s plans to bring its space station online in 2020, just in time for the ISS to close. Whatever the case one thing seems certain, the Chinese have reached the stars, and they’re not coming back anytime soon.

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Keywords: Tiangong 2 Shenzhou 11