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The process is reminiscent of a paternoster - space travel.

Up on one side and down on the other.

China is expected to launch its first large component for its own space station with the sonorous name “Sky Palace” or “Tiangong 3” this Thursday.

On Sunday, if the weather is right, four astronauts will return to Earth from the “International Space Station” (ISS), which is currently crowded with eleven people.

They are supposed to land in a capsule from the technology entrepreneur Elon Musk in the sea off Florida.

For Beijing, the beginning of the construction of its “China Space Station” (CSS) is a national prestige project.

The timing is ideal for propaganda, because now of all times it is questionable how long the aging “ISS” will orbit the earth.

Beijing is pushing ahead with its space projects and celebrating great successes

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Russia, as co-designer and builder of the "ISS", alongside the USA, Europe, Canada and Japan, recently reported on plans for a new space station of its own.

It is therefore speculated that the “ISS” will end in 2030, which means that purely commercial operation is also conceivable.

After all, NASA needs billions for projects such as the announced manned moon landing or flights to Mars.

While the "ISS" future is uncertain, Beijing is consistently pressing ahead with its space projects and celebrating great successes.

In early 2019, the Chinese succeeded in landing a rover on the back of the moon - a first.

A China satellite is currently orbiting Mars and a small rover is likely to land in the next few weeks.

At least on Mars, the USA can point to its pioneering role.

You are currently flying a mini-helicopter on the red planet, which was dropped from the recently landed rover "Perseverance".

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For industry experts, China is working through its space strategy point by point.

In international comparison, Beijing has long since risen from apprentice to master class with its own manned space flight.

Now it is a matter of cementing power in space and using it geostrategically.

When the annual conference on satellite navigation of the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich took place in March, experts from China used the example of their Beidou navigation network to show how quickly and effectively they work on projects - while the Europeans who started earlier still do not achieve the final performance of their Galileo network to have.

Beidou can be used worldwide - like the GPS signal (USA) or Galileo (Europe).

A China representative had to be asked at the conference whether Beijing will use Beidou as part of a "Silk Road in Space".

He chose a diplomatic response.

The space station called "Sky Palace" or "Tiangong 3" will be significantly smaller than the ISS

Source: REUTERS

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The “Belt and Road Initiative” is the official name for the “New Silk Road” as a paraphrase for a trade network between China, Africa and Europe.

Beijing is investing in new ports, train routes, roads and other infrastructure in other countries.

This strategy is now also emerging in space.

So the use of rockets, satellites, navigation data and possibly the space station for other countries.

In addition, Beijing recently announced that it would enter the mega-constellation market for Internet satellites.

A network with 13,000 small satellites is planned, a size similar to that which Elon Musk is currently advancing with his Starlink project.

The USA has never granted access to the "ISS" to an astronaut from China

A report for the US Congress warned in 2019: "China's government and military are determined to achieve ambitious goals for leadership in space, if not supremacy."

It literally states: "Beijing aims to take a leading position in the future space-based economy and conquer key sectors of the global commercial space industry, including promoting its space industry through partnerships on what is known as the 'Silk Road in Space'."

So China opens its door to space technology, while conversely the USA has never allowed a Chinese to enter the "ISS".

At first, today's “International Space Station” was still a military US project, until it was built together with the Russians in 1998, which would have been impossible in the Cold War.

The Russians benefited from the “ISS” especially after the end of their own space station “Mir”.

A Chinese man wearing an astronaut space suit visits a tourist area hoping to entice people to a new bar in Beijing on Monday, October 19, 2020. As China's space program rapidly ad ... vances with a trip to the moon and a space station all in advanced stages of development, businesses have started using the space program to promote and advertise both goods and services.

Photo by Stephen Shaver / UPI Photo via Newscom picture alliance

Source: picture alliance / newscom

So now the Chinese want to circle the earth more or less permanently manned.

Two previous projects "Tiangong 1" and "Tiangong 2" (2011/2016) were smaller modules.

The first larger space station in China will not be as powerful as the "ISS" even when it is fully expanded.

But it is a start.

As with the "ISS", research and science are officially the focus of the project in China.

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It weighs 22 tons and is 18 meters long. The first basic component that the rocket is to carry from the Wenchang space station into space.

The module is called “Tianhe”, in English “heavenly harmony” with five circular air locks at the end for docking additional elements.

With a total of eleven rocket launches, the space station is to be expanded to a weight of 60 to 70 tons.

For comparison: the “ISS” has a weight of around 450 tons and the Russian space station “Mir”, which orbited the earth from 1986 to 2001, was roughly twice as heavy at 124 tons.

The Chinese space station was supposed to orbit the earth long ago, but the new Langer Marsch 5B heavy-lift rocket failed in 2017 due to an engine problem.

There were delays and the missile had yet to complete a test flight.

The construction of the space station should now be completed in 2022.

Probably on June 10th, a Chinese Shenzou space capsule, in English “ship of the gods”, will bring the first three Taikonauts, as Beijing calls its astronauts, to the space station.

They should then stay there for three to six months.

There would be space for up to six people on board during the crew change.

For comparison: In 2009 there were temporarily 13 people on board the “ISS”.

It is still open who will be allowed to fly in China's “Tiangong 3” space station in the future.

Possibly even an astronaut from the European Space Agency ESA.

European astronauts have often been in space with the Americans and Russians - on board space shuttles, the former Russian space station "Mir" or currently the Frenchman Thomas Pesquet in the "International Space Station" (ISS).

But with the Chinese?

At least at the end of 2017, European astronauts took part in a Taikonaut training in China for the first time.

With the German Matthias Maurer.

Before he possibly enters a Chinese space station at some point, he should first fly to the "ISS" in the fall.

He will then be the first German to travel to the space station on board the ultra-modern capsule from Elon Musk's space company SpaceX.

The mission called "Cosmic Kiss" is already firmly booked.

The Chinese Heaven Palace has yet to be built.

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