China | Universe Today

China is stepping up its preparations for this year's Olympics to be held in the Chinese capital, Beijing. Concern is growing for the start of the games this summer as early August is known to be a wet period in the region. More advanced weather satellites are therefore being sent into orbit to aid the forecasting effort. This is good timing for improved weather satellite technology as the earthquake-striken Sichuan province recovery effort has been hampered by poor weather conditions. Aid and search operations will greatly benefit from better weather forecasting…
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China is hoping to launch 15 rockets, 17 satellites and its third manned mission in 2008. This is an ambitious manifest for any country, and it appears China hopes to take its global emergence to new heights in a year in which it will also host the summer Olympics.
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There are mixed reports coming out of China on their plans to loft a space station by 2020. A Chinese aerospace engineer, Long Lehao, mentioned to journalists that the China National Space Administration was planning to build a "small-scale 20 tonne space workshop". But then space officials at the agency denied the report. So what's going on?
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Chinese space officials announced that their Chang'e-1 spacecraft entered lunar orbit on Monday, completing a new milestone in the country's goals of space exploration. The spacecraft is scheduled to begin scanning the lunar surface on Wednesday, but first, it has to complete two additional braking maneuvers.
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The Moon had been lonely for a while, but now there's no shortage of spacecraft on the way. The latest visitor, China's Chang'e-1, blasted off today from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, Sichuan, atop a Long March 3A rocket. Although this spacecraft is just a lunar orbiter, it begins the country's journey to putting a lander down on the surface of the Moon before 2020.
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China's third unmanned spacecraft returned to Earth on Monday after spending a week in orbit. The Shenzhou capsule, touched down in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 0851 GMT (3:51am EST). The spacecraft contained a series of experiments designed to test the life support systems of the capsule. It's still unknown when China will actually send humans into space, but officials from the country's space agency said that more unmanned tests will still be required.

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