China poised for bigger strides in space exploration: Xi Jinping

The space dream is part of the dream to make China stronger.

Chinese President Xi Jinping today hinted at a major expansion of China8217;s space programme,saying the country is poised for 8220;bigger strides8221; in space exploration after the success of various manned missions.

8220;The space dream is part of the dream to make China stronger. With the development of space programmes,the Chinese people will take bigger strides to explore further into the space,8221; Xi,via a video link,told the country8217;s three astronauts orbiting the earth in an experimental space lab Tiangong-1,300 kilometres above the earth.

Xi spoke through the video call at the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre which was telecast live by state-run CCTV. Greeting the three astronauts who embarked on their space journey on June 11,he said,8221;you have worked and lived in space for 13 days. We all care about you very much,8221;. The crew consists of Nie Haisheng,Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping.

The three Chinese astronauts on the country8217;s fifth and longest manned space mission yesterday succeeded in manually docking their spacecraft with the orbiting experimental space lab.

The spacecraft 8216;Shenzhou-108242; Divine Craft successfully completed a manual docking procedure with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space module,the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre had announced. Wang,the country8217;s second woman astronaut,along with the two cosmonauts,is on the country8217;s longest space mission scheduled to be completed on June 26 after a fortnight-long mission. Nie,commander of the crew,said they felt very well and were working as scheduled.

8220;We feel very proud to be able to contribute to realising the Chinese nation8217;s space dream,8221; Nie said. Wang,China8217;s first teacher in space said the crew members could rest seven to eight hours per day.

Speaking of Wang8217;s space lecture on June 20,Xi said it would play an important role in fostering students8217; interest in sciences and exploring the space. About 60 million students from 80,000 schools watched the 40-minute live lecture when Wang lectured about motion inmicro-gravity environments and the surface tension of liquid in space,supporting her lecture with various demonstrations.

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The manned space mission has reflected the courage to defy hardship and explore,a spirit that would inspire the entire nation,Xi said. The President spoke to the astronauts from the Beijing8217;s space centre and the conversation lasted over 10 minutes.

The astronauts were expected to land in a designated place in Inner Mongolia on Wednesday completing the second space mission to experiment with a temporary space lab which is orbiting the earth for the past 600 days.

It was expected to be discarded in the next few months. China plans to build a Space lab of its own by 2020 by which time the current international space station manned by Russian and US crew was expected to retire.