Chinese President Xi Jinping “may have his feet firmly on the ground, but he has his eyes on the stars,” Chinese news service Xinhua wrote yesterday. It titled its wire highlighting Xi’s involvement in China’s developing aerospace program from the very start of his presidency in 2013, “Xi Story: Looking to the Stars.”
China’s success after success in its 2021 space endeavors have the Chinese people as a whole “looking to the stars,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian made clear in his press briefing yesterday. With pride and excitement, he reviewed the accomplishments: landing the Tianwen-1 probe on Mars; launching the Zhurong rover, which is now exploring that planet; a new record in space launches of satellites and Chinese astronauts; construction of the Tiangong space station, and the four extravehicular space walks by the astronauts to ready and deploy the space station’s capabilities.
