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  • Book
  • © 2013

China in Space

The Great Leap Forward

Authors:

  • Includes much generally unknown information on the missions, personalities, spacecraft, launchers, budgets, and future plans
  • Authoritative and investigative information provided in a lively and factual narrative
  • Discusses the role of China in the international spacefaring community
  • Contains easy to access lists and descriptions of all Chinese launches and missions
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Springer Praxis Books (PRAXIS)

Part of the book sub series: Space Exploration (SPACEE)

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
  2. The heavenly palace

    • Brian Harvey
    Pages 1-27
  3. Medieval rockets to first satellites

    • Brian Harvey
    Pages 29-50
  4. The program

    • Brian Harvey
    Pages 51-103
  5. Recoverable satellites

    • Brian Harvey
    Pages 105-133
  6. Communications satellites

    • Brian Harvey
    Pages 135-171
  7. Applying the space program

    • Brian Harvey
    Pages 173-226
  8. Space science

    • Brian Harvey
    Pages 227-256
  9. Manned spaceflight

    • Brian Harvey
    Pages 257-310
  10. To the Moon and Mars

    • Brian Harvey
    Pages 311-343
  11. China’s ambitions

    • Brian Harvey
    Pages 345-374
  12. Back Matter

    Pages 375-399

About this book

Rockets were invented in China, the home of many modern inventions, including ancient astronomy, and were used originally for military purposes in the 13th century. The Chinese space program was founded in October 1956 by the father of Chinese rocketry, Tsien Hsue Shen, who lived in California in the 1930s until his expulsion as a Chinese spy.

In recent times there have been three manned spaceflights, highlighting China’s ambitious space program and generating worldwide interest. Future missions are planned, including a mission to go to Mars.

The explosive growth of China’s innovative and rapidly developing space program in recent years has made it a "hot" topic in international space policy. This follow up to Harvey's earlier book, China's Space Program - From Conception To Manned Spaceflight (2004) bring us up to date with everything that is happening in the Chinese space program today and looks at its ambitious future. The author briefly summarizes how this program evolved from medieval times, and uncovers the truth behind the bland, unreliable, and generally uninformative news releases issued around each space mission. It also examines the key features of the program, previously unknown to the outside world.

Reviews

From the reviews:

“The book contains very good descriptions of the Chinese space program, including its bureaus, testing facilities, launching complexes, and rockets, and in-depth coverage of the wide range of Chinese satellites along with their functions and ground stations. … Useful for readers interested in space exploration and technology, or in Chinese capabilities and plans. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers.” (A. M. Strauss, Choice, Vol. 51 (2), October, 2013)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dublin 6W, Ireland

    Brian Harvey

About the author

Brian Harvey is an established Praxis author of many books in the Springer-Praxis Space Exploration program on the Russian, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, European space programs. He was the Editor of the Space Exploration 2007 annual and is Joint Editor of Space Exploration 2008 trivia. He has written many articles for 'Spaceflight' magazine, 'Orbit,' 'Astronomy and Space' and the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society and regular broadcasts on spaceflight for RTE, the BBC and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 34.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access