SPACE TRAVEL
Call it China's Great Leap Upward. More than four decades after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth, China aims to become the third country to send a human into space. In 2001, the world's most populous nation practiced by launching turtles and snails. Once a manned mission succeeds, likely within a year, the next step seems obvious: put a person on the moon.
The longstanding but chronically underfunded program is finally pressing ahead, fueled by revenue from trade zones like Shanghai and Hong Kong. China's motives are unclear - outside of bragging rights over galactic wannabes like India and North Korea. "This is the way big powers represent themselves," says Charles Vick, an analyst on China's space program with the Federation of American Scientists. "It's the alpha male beating his chest."
The Chinese are proud of their role in space history. Gunpowder, which dates back to the Song Dynasty, was the seed of modern rockets. The Long March booster rockets and the Shenzhou (or "Magic Vessel") capsules were developed in China, influenced by Russia's program. When they reach orbit, the astronauts - known as yuhangyuan - will be able to see for themselves one of the few man-made structures visible from space: the Great Wall.
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