NASA’s famed Evel Knievel Manned Space Program has an Asian rival. The People’s Republic of China is planning to launch a space station. The Tiangong or ‘heavenly palace’ will hurtle towards the heavens within the decade.
The Chinese man-in-space effort began ten years ago, and boasted its first space walk during the 2008 Shenzhou-7 mission. Meanwhile, in Florida, NASA’s antiquated Endeavour space shuttle is back in the shop.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Tags: China, human space flight, man in space, manned space effort, outer space, People's Republic of China, PRC, space, space station, Tiangong
NotionsCapital 
May 4, 2011 at 10:43 am
I thought the space-walking “Hello Kitty”, which is Japanese, added a particularly delicious touch.
May 5, 2011 at 10:58 pm
Dog Gone wrote: I thought the space-walking “Hello Kitty”, which is Japanese, added a particularly delicious touch.
Japan has a pretty advanced space effort, and a split-level module on the International Space Station. No “Hello Kitty,” though.