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Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.

Earth and the Moon from Chang’e-5 T1

China outlines its space exploration ambitions

China released a new white paper on its policy and activities in space, outlining ambitious deep space exploration, human spaceflight and space science projects as major priorities for the years up to 2020 and beyond.

Soaring Shenzhou

How should America feel about China's space ambitions?

China is sending two astronauts on a month-long mission to the country's new space station. What are China's long-term space goals? Does the narrative of a space race between the U.S. and China fit? If so, what happens if America loses?

Tiangong-1 and Shenzhou-10

Could Sino-U.S. cooperation bring The Martian home?

In the The Martian, NASA astronaut Mark Watney is stranded on Mars. At a critical moment, China offers to help the U.S. bring him back to Earth. But can these two countries cooperate to explore space in reality?

Solar system montage with eight planets

Op-Ed: The new space race: It's not just the U.S. and Russia anymore

I once argued that the concept of a space race represented old thinking. The modern way forward in space would be through international cooperation and coordination. Today, I think my insistence that the space race was over was naive. There are now many space races.

Full Moon (enhanced color)

China Goes to the Moon and Beyond?

Planetary Radio guest Leonard David has been writing about space exploration for more than five decades. He has collected analysis from around the world about China's big plans for space exploration.

Shenzhou-9 crew training

Shenzhou-9 reaches orbit

China’s fourth human spaceflight mission got underway this morning after a Long March 2F rocket blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 10:37 UTC.