China in Space: Tortoise or Dragon?

The Straits Times

01 November 2016

Is China the proverbial tortoise trying to play catch-up in a space race or a veritable dragon shaking up the exclusive celestial club?

The question came up again with the launch of the country’s sixth and longest manned space mission two weeks ago.

Those who view China as a tortoise point to how it has largely been replicating what other space powers, the United States and Russia in particular, achieved decades ago.

… Singapore-based analyst Richard Bitzinger, who wrote a paper this May describing China as a “surprising tortoise” in space, also noted that the Shenzhou-11 voyage is only the country’s sixth manned mission since its first in 2003.

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