The roar of the rockets, the flash of the sparks, the deafening sound, these are all things that the Chinese are now used to, since the creation of their space program. As romantic as this launch sounds, there are many problems in China's new space program and many people are questioning what's the point, after man has already been to space and landed on the moon. It is a waste of China's money and resources to continue their manned space program. .
China's first attempt at the moon actually began about 500 years ago when Wan Hu tried to reach the heavens by tying fireworks to his back. Spectators watched as Hu lit the fuse, the resulting explosion resulted in China's first, of many, disasters trying to reach space ("Divine Lift" 1). China's modern space program sprouted in the 1960's with the development of their nuclear weapons program. In this program the Chinese developed Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, (ICBM) ("Heavenly Pursuits" 2). Surprisingly, it was the United States who unknowingly helped the Chinese the most, because in the 1950's as the Communist Scare was gripping the U.S. it deported a communist sympathizer named Qian Xuesen. Xuesen was a Rocket Engineer for the California Institute of Technology, when he returned to China he helped create most of the Chinese missile and rocket systems (Kahn 2-3). As the Chinese watched the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union they also wanted to launch a satellite, however they didn't have the funds, the materials or the technology to build a satellite ("Heavenly Pursuits" 2). After some years of research and testing China had built a space-ready satellite and launched it in 1970. As the Satellite orbited the earth it blared the Chinese anthem "The East is Red" (Kahn 3). This first successful flight impressed many people throughout the world. .
China wasn't satisfied just launching satellites so in 1992 they began working .