In China it was morning when the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft landed in Siziwang county in Inner Mongolia. The landing was carried out using a parachute to slow the Shenzhou 9 descent but it was still rough, with the spacecraft turning upside down. The official statements arrived shortly after, however, reassure that the crew members – Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang, and the first Chinese woman in space Liu Yang – are all well.
Yesterday, the crew completed the tests and experiments scheduled on the Tiangong 1 module, used as a space laboratory and on last Sunday for a manual docking test. The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft undocked with a manual operation, the last test before the scheduled return to Earth.
Now the astronauts will face extensive medical examinations and the results of the various tests performed in the Tiangong 1 module will be examined but the mission Shenzhou 9 has already been called a complete success. Not surprisingly, at the control center in Beijing, there was the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who read a congratulations message by the highest national authorities.
It’s inevitable that right now the Chinese propaganda machine works at full capacity. The space program is important for China’s international prestige but it’s also useful for internal propaganda. These space missions are a legitimate source of pride for Chinese people and the regime takes advantage of it.
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Waiting for official information on the next Shenzhou mission, the timing of construction of the Chinese space station and possible missions to the Moon, we must take note of the China’s successes. It’s true that this country is still catching up to Americans and Russians but if we think that the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft has just completed an unmanned flight test it’s clear that we must already consider China among the leaders in the field of space travel.
The most appropriate comparison today is with the Russian Soyuz spacecrafts. Many have seen several similarities between the Shenzhou and Soyuz spacecrafts and it’s possible that there was a collaboration between China and Russia to help the progress of the Asian power.
In the U.S.A. but perhaps also in other Western nations, space trips have been taken for granted several years ago and after the initial excitement many people started considering them useless without thinking about the many technological and scientific advances obtained thanks to them. When the Chinese have a strong presence in space, they’re likely to be the first to demand new space programs. However, it would be better to start moving quickly.
