China in Space: The Great Leap Forward (Springer Praxis Books)

I loved this book. It is not only a great source about Chinese space projects but also a great read which I finished in only 2 days. The Flight of Yang Liwei is written so well I've get goosebumps!Very balanced look at Chinese space exploration, no political prejudice or anything like that.There are little mistakes here and there such as H-6 being a Chinese Tu-95 :) but nothing major.I suggest everyone who are interested in space exploration to read.

An outstanding book for the casual reader interested by the Chinese space program. It is an understatement to say that western medias don’t report about the Chinese space program in a rational, balanced and neutral mode. Most of the time, they insist on failures or controversial issues. ( Just consider the lack of media exposure about Cheng e 3, moon landing and robot deployment, first time successful, compared with similar western events )This is why such a book allows the reader to get some better, unbiased and exhaustive information. The book organization is a bit puzzling, being organized by programs, and not, as you would expect, as an historical report of the development of China’s space effort. Starting by the latest ( at printing time ) achievement, Tiangong, the author examines each program in an historical manner. Each chapter is dedicated to a program, and is ended by a recap table of the program, making it a excellent way of learning about a specific program without having to read the entire book. ( what you should do anyway ! ).The book ends with a description of the future projects, space launchers, moon landing, space station,etc. giving a very good insight of the state of projects at this point of time.One of the surprises I had was to realise how much information Chinese provide about their programs, and the publicity given before launches, as well as their policy to make them public beforehand, a complete change from the USSR way during the cold war. This is to be put in contrast with what you get through our western medias concerning Chinese space events.One thing I discovered in the book was how much the USA did to try to counter the development of the Chinese space effort, from banning them access to the ISS, to trying to prevent any commercial activity in Telecom satellites.At the end of the book, a complete recap of the launches till June 2012 is provided with all the basic orbital parameters for each launch.This book helped me getting a better understanding of China's approach for solving problems, looking at the way they did for their space program.No doubt the next man on the moon will be Chinese.

I like this book . why should the USA the only nation to have success in space ?china is a very old nation , watch out .

On p.335, in the section on Mars 500, the guys calls the Chinese doctor "Chinaman." Ridiculous. Can't believe he can be so racist.