China’s next goal is likely to be an attempted space walk as well as experiments with space rendezvous. They will then likely aim for a space station and an unmanned mission to the Moon in 2008. Beyond that is conjecture, but China’s research programs may indicate a rough direction. China has plans for a new generation of rockets named Long March 5, which will carry significantly heavier payloads. The Shenzhou capsule should, with minor modifications, be able to send a Chinese astronaut around the Moon and back.

China has made no announcements on whether it hopes to place a man on the Moon. But Chinese space exhibitions have had scale models of what a base on Mars might look like…