now China has successfully launched its youngest ever astronauts or tyon Nauts into space where they'll spend the next six months on a station called Heavenly Palace Beijing is aiming for a record year of lunar exploration but the US is growing increasingly alarmed at the prospect of a new space race Laura Bier reports [Music] this launch is yet another step in a growing Space Race a battle which could even decide who owns the moon we were so close you can feel the ground vibrate and the fact that China feels so confident to have us here shows
its own confidence in its growing space Ambitions this is one of 100 launches they're planning this year as they try to outdo rival the United States these are the three chosen to fly to China's homegrown space station they've been in quarantine and are kept away from us behind glass they include the country's first female Space Engineer I dream of exploring the vastness of space waving to the Stars and of course looking back at my homeland my deepest affection were always before my motherland no matter where I am I will keep striving and working tirelessly the
team have trained together for a year to conduct experiments and Carry Out space walks the pilot is a veteran but both Wang and her crewmate are China's next generation of space exploders this year watch their country carry out an historic first and collect lunar samples from The Far Side of the Moon China also has a fleet of satellites in space and plans for many more arrival to Elon musk's starlink the modern space race is no longer about getting to the moon it's about who will control its Rich resources valuable minerals and metals and the head
of NASA is what a China will claim them I think his concerns are unnecessary weh here to the principles of peaceful use equality Mutual benefit and Joint development as the astronauts make their last steps on Earth for the next 6 months they're waved off as national heroes China's rivalry with the US is is no longer just based here on Earth both could soon be staking territorial claims well beyond this planet Laura Becker BBC News Gansu