China’s Ambitious Space Program a Point of National Pride

China has launched its most ambitious space mission yet.

Over the weekend, the Shenzhou-9 blasted off with three astronauts on board – including for the first time, a woman.

The astronauts will attempt to manually dock a space module which is a technically challenging maneuver.

Host Marco Werman talks with The World’s Mary Kay Magistad on the significance of this space mission.

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Marco Werman: China is celebrating two milestones for its space program. On Saturday, the Chinese sent their first female astronaut into orbit. Today, the capsule carrying that astronaut and two male colleagues docked with an orbiting module. The Chinese had never done that before either. It’s all part of China’s preparations to have a permanent manned space station by 2020. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad is in Beijing. She says China is trying to catch up to the Russian and American space programs.

Mary Kay Magistad: Back in the early ’60s China was recuperating, recovering from the greatly forward and the three years of famine that followed that killed almost three million people. And then after that came the cultural revolution which was another 10 lost years where the economy basically, contracted. China really started to come into its own over the last 30 years of economic reform and opening up, and I think for China, having a space program is largely about national prestige and international prestige. So even though it’s 40 or 50 years late it is only the third country to be able to put people into space and to bring them back safely.

Werman: So the other significant thing about this mission, Mary Kay, that we mentioned is the first woman astronaut that China has presented, Liu Yang. What can you tell us about Ms. Liu and what is she gonna be doing?

Magistad: She’s 33 years old. She’s a former fighter pilot. She’s with two male colleagues who are both in their 40s. It’s a 13 day mission. When there was the automated docking, Ms. Liu stayed behind in case of emergency for the initial stage and then joined her colleagues in the Tiangong space lab, which means “sky palace.” And I think for China and certainly for the way this is being played int he Chinese state run media, this is just another step forward to show that China is that confident of its space program, that it can put a woman into space along with the guys.

Werman: So there was Mir, the Russian space station. The US has been involved in the International Space Station and now the Chinese are often running with their own project. Why are the Chinese not part of the international space station?

Magistad: Well, in fact, there was an act of Congress which blocked the Chinese from being part of the International Space Station. They feared that there would be technology transfers that could help China with asymmetrical warfare should the US and China ever be on opposite sides of a war in the future. So China decided okay, well fine, we’re gonna have our own space station. It’s gonna be much smaller than the International Space Station, but we’re gonna move ahead. We’ll have it by 2020. And ironically, the International Space Station may be decommissioned by 2020, so China may be the only one out there by then.

Werman: So what does this space success, if we can call it that, this weekend begin to represent for China right now? And is the central government in China making hey out of it?

Magistad: Absolutely making hey. The Chinese state run media are running with this in a way that they’ve run with few other stories since the Olympics in 2008. It’s an achievement that they believe reflects great national and international prestige. One of the Chinese newspapers, the Global Times, which is under the People’s Daily umbrella, the People’s Daily is the Communist Party newspaper, had the headline Confused Youth Should Look Up to the Shenzhou Spirit. And one of the line said “there’s some typical characteristics of China’s aerospace projects being steady and consistent, enduring humiliation and bearing responsibility, showing absolute respect for science and being indifferent toward fame and fortune. And I think the party leaders are having a bit of an issue with young people and how irreverent they can be toward authority and toward the party, particularly in this year of one of the biggest crises and scandals in the party in decades, and also a leadership transition. So it’s really nice to have a positive moment around which to gather sort of nationalistic patriotic sentiment.

Werman: Yeah, Mary Kay, do you happen to know what they’re gonna be eating up there in space?

Magistad: I don’t know exactly, no.

Werman: The joke is that the International Space Station will be sending out to the Chinese space station for takeout.

Magistad: Yo, pizza! Not tonight.

Werman: All right, The World’s Mary Kay Magistad in Beijing, thank you so much.

Magistad: Thank you, Marco.

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