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Enlarge / The 49th Beidou navigation satellite was successfully launched by a Long March 3b carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China on November 5, 2019. In recent weeks, China's space program has made news by revealing some of its long-term ambitions for spaceflight. These include establishing an Earth-Moon space economic zone by 2050, which, if successful, could allow the country to begin to dictate the rules of behavior for future space exploration. Some have questioned whether China, which has flown six human spaceflights in the last 16 years, can really build a large low-Earth space station, send taikonauts to the Moon, return samples from Mars, and more in the coming decade or two. But what seems clear is that the country's authoritarian government has long-term plans and is taking steps toward becoming a global leader in space exploration. By one important metric—orbital launches—China has already reached this goal. In 2018, the country set a goal of 35 orbital launches and ended up with 39 launch attempts. That year, the United States (29 flights) and Russia (20) trailed China, according to Space Launch Report. It marked the first time China led the world in the number of successful orbital launches. China now has a rocket that can land taikonauts on the Moon This year, China is set to pace the world again. Through Sunday, the country has launched 27 orbital missions, followed by Russia (19), and the United States (16). Although nearly a month and a half remain in this year, a maximum of six additional orbital launches are likely from the United States in 2019. To be fair, China's space launch program has not been without hiccups. The country's space program is still trying to bring its large Long March 5 vehicle back into service after a catastrophic failure during just its second mission, in July 2017. And the country had three failures in 2018 and 2019, compared to just one in the United States and Russia combined. 长按一下二维图关注我们，懂财经的机械设计工程师 机械小财经，汇集了一群对机械设计执着热爱的优秀工程师，他们分别从事于工程机械，农业机械，能源电力设备，航空航天设备，汽车设计，机械零部件设计等领域，并小有建树。 他们对经济又有浓厚的兴趣，希望通过自己的经济知识让更多的工程师变得更加富有。
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