A Closer Look at China's Epic Space Mission: Project 921

Learn about China's ambitious space program, from its formation in 1958 and first successful launch in 1970 to its current goal of putting a living human being in space and constructing a space station. See how China is catching up with the US, Russia, and other space-faring nations with Shenzhou missions, spacewalks, lunar orbiters, and more.

Simon's Social Media:

Love content? Check out Simon's other YouTube Channels:

[williamwan]

Translations:
Shenzhou 神舟: "Celestial boat"
Tiangong 天宫: "Heavenly palace"
Tianhe 天和: "Harmony of the sky"
Tianzhou 天舟: "Sky boat"
Wentian 问天: "Asking/Demanding to the sky"
Mengtian 梦天: "Dreaming of the sky"

[andydondy]

You know what's wild. Building your own space station all by yourself after being barred from the ISS 😮😮😮 that is crazy👏👏👏

[tty]

You didn’t mention that Qian xueshen helped started the NASA jet propulsion lab, alongside Wernher von Braun.

[ztornow]

Honestly, well done China. I’m an American and I understand there is an atmosphere of competition here, but credit where due. Wouldn’t it be amazing if the great powers of the world treated each other with respect instead of fear. Imagine what would be accomplished.

[The_PaleHorseman]

If anyone sees this from China! From the United States, this is the competition I am 1000 percent for! I wish you the best and hope one day our differences will bring us together for humanity! What China did is a impressive feat and is due its respect.

Hopefully this will put a fire under NASA and the US to invest more into space instead of the military industrial complex.

[marvinwindsor]

The Chinese space program is impressive. Not mentioned here were noteworthy events like landing a rover on the far side of the moon and successfully landing a rover on Mars, on their first attempt.

[martinstallard]

1:43 predecessors and formation
5:49 1. launch and return
8:50 2. laboratory and rendezvous
14:47 3. Tiangong-3
17:27 into the future

[namelesscare]

Not only the current and future projects. China managed to significant progress in space programs last four decades. We're barely aware of that cause the media is not mentioning that so much, which is normal. They are just yelling out regarding China's human rights records.

[XkMeng]

If you guys think that the copyright of everything belongs to the inventor of the first original version, then it is obvious that rocket technology originated in 1260, Song Dynasty, China

[renewklear]

I like Chinas approach to spaceflight, slow and steady hands, one step and a time quietly learning and moving on to the next

[KrazeDiamond]

A lot of people in the West either don't know or forgot that China faced nonstop foreign invasions from 1839 - 1949 that left the country in ruins and on the brink of total collapse. The US also imposed a Total Trade Blockade on China from 1950 - 1972 for joining the Korean War which set them back another 20 years. China didn't get to industrialize until 1980, while UK & US began industrializations since 1850s. In other words, China was behind the West by at least 140 years. This is why what China has achieved in the last 40 years is nothing short of miraculous.

[lawrenceallen]

Cool! When I was in middle school (we called it Junior High then) I used to pour over books in the library that had artist conceptions like this of giant space wheels, cylindrical space stations miles wide with lakes, rivers forests inside. The "Under Construction" wheel with scaffolding was new in 1969, when we saw it in 2001 A Space Odesseyl That was in the early 1970s. SpaceX will launch a rocket this month (or early March) that carries 250 tons into low earth orbit. The entire ISS is only 460 tons, so 2 launches will put 40 more tons in space that the entire ISS! ISS has a habitat volume of 388 cubic meters, Starship has 1, 100 cubic meters of payload space, most of which would be habitat. I LOVE that another country is getting humans into space. Congrats to China. I remember how I felt when my country was doing the things you were doing for the first time 50 years ago. I hope you all find the same joy as I did.

[andrewreynolds]

Good to see someone treating the Chinese space program rationally, and not hysterically.

[scheimong]

A little known detail is that on China's first manned mission Shenzhou 5, the spacecraft experienced very intense resonant vibrations (either during launch or reentry, I cannot remember), which left its sole astronaut very unwell. But he knew he was on live broadcast and was the face of the nation of the moment, so he didn't say anything. There were no mission-ending injuries but it was scary. "I felt like I was going to be martyred", said Yang in later interviews.
On landing the microphone also crushed up on his mouth so his face was bloodied. Recovery crew were concerned because it looked scarier than it actually was, but he insisted on making a quick appearance on camera to conclude the mission.
Those issues were addressed and fixed for later missions, so this was the closest China ever came to losing an astronaut, at least as far as we know.

Edit: correction on some details. Thanks @Daniel Shen

[ellashy]

We need channels like this just facts of how things evolve not hysteria and that clouds our minds and living in past glory

[Papershields]

I love the idea of them servicing their space telescope with Taingong. A bit like the shuttles going to work on hubble

[qiyiliu]

3:05 One interesting point, Qian Xuesen is also one of the 7 founders of NASA’s JPL

[BishjamIC]

Seeing this the day after the 'Chinese spy balloon' is just a little bit of irony. 😂

[atomic]

Great presentation, as always. I enjoy your videos and insught.

[gotmilk]

I appreciate how USA decoupled from China as equal human beings with NASA, now they have their own Space Station and real sense of independence they really need!