China launches rocket ship to the moon But this is the first big … -. Expresso

<- St_tag_p begin ->

An experimental spacecraft was launched this morning by China from the Xichang Space Center in Sichuan Province. The unmanned spacecraft will orbit around the moon for a week and then return. The mission ends when the spacecraft landing on the plains of Inner Mongolia.

<- end st_tag_p ->

According to CNN, is the first time that China send a spacecraft to the moon with ability to return. The main challenge, in technical terms, is to ensure that the re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere will be done safely.

<- st_tag_p end -> <- begin st_tag_p ->

it is expected that this release test serves to technology that is used in a mission also considered more “ambitious”, scheduled for 2017, which involves the launch of a spacecraft capable of collecting soil samples and also return to Earth.

<- end st_tag_p ->

However, according to Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor in the US Naval War College, the challenge here is presents is technical but also political. “Its importance lies not only in demonstrating technical skills, but also in view of political will to achieve spatial objectives for long periods of time,” said the American expert, quoted by CNN.

<- end st_tag_p ->

In 2003, the first time China sent an astronaut into space, and since then has made rapid progress in this field. It is, however, too early to draw conclusions about their ability to assert itself as a space power. “The space program [China] has not yet reached the capabilities that the United States and the former Soviet Union achieved for decades,” said James A. Lewis, director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, also quoted by CNN .

<- end st_tag_p ->

With few economic and military advantages, the importance of this mission lies, according to Lewis, the ability interfering, changing the perception that China has of herself. What is at stake here is “the flaunting of national power and wealth that the country returns to authority and confidence.” He adds: “It is possible that the mission has global effects, but for the internal audience, the only worry with which the leaders of China, the mission produces priceless results.”

<- end st_tag_p ->