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China’s Bid to Win the New Space Race
Moon bases. Satellite-killing weapons. Asteroid mining. The battle for space could define the 21st century—and China is rocketing ahead.
It’s no surprise that The Wandering Earth has been enthusiastically embraced by the Chinese Communist Party—it was partially produced by the state-owned China Film Group Corporation, and the Ministry of Education recommended that it be aired in schools across the country. Where America had Wernher von Braun and Russia had Sergei Korolev, the “father of Chinese rocketry” was Qian Xuesen, who spent decades in the United States at MIT and Caltech, where he was part of a team nicknamed “The Suicide Squad,” due to explosive attempts to build a rocket on campus. Meanwhile, on board Space Station Tiangong, taikonauts, who travel to it in a Shenzhou (“Divine Vessel”) capsule, can thank their lucky stars they are in the “Heavenly Palace,” named after the residence of the Celestial Ruler who holds supreme authority over the universe in Chinese mythology.
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