Development of the station is part of more than 40 planned Chinese rocket launches this year. It is the country’s highest ever amount, outlining its ambitions to dominate space.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) revealed the target at a meeting on January 4, according to Space News.
Last year, the nation conducted 39 launches, a stark contrast to their space exploration output prior to 2007. Until then, they had never launched more than 10 times in one calendar year.
Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s human spaceflight program, told state broadcaster CCTV: “We firmly believe that it will play a major role in the forefront of scientific exploration of humanity and also in the development of our space technology.”
The class of 1996 has some interesting options.
Due to a strange law called the Imported Vehicle Safety Compliance Act of 1988, vehicles that were not originally sold in the United States can not be imported until they are 25 years old. This means every year, we get to write about a new crop of cars that can be imported into the country. Last year for 2020, the importable cars from 1995 included some heavy hitters like the R33 Nissan Skyline GT-R and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III.
This year s list features cars from 1996, though be sure to check the build date of the specific vehicle you want to bring into the country because that will specify exactly when the car is eligible to import. We ve picked some great options from Japan, UK, and France that can be imported in 2021.
Lockheed Martin photograph by Chad Bellay
An F-35B Lightning II from the 461st Flight Test Squadron fires a United Kingdom-built AIM-132 ASRAAM (advanced short range air-to-air missile) over the Point Mugu Sea Test Range in California Feb. 24, 2017.
The 461st Flight Test Squadron at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., recently conducted weapon delivery accuracy tests with two United Kingdom weapons.
The weapons were released from a U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II, short takeoff/vertical landing variant, which will also be used by the U.K’s Royal Air Force and Navy.
The U.K. weapons used for the test were the AIM-132 ASRAAM (advanced short range air-to-air missile) and Paveway IV precision-guided bomb.