It is . He wasn ' t even trying to hide what he did . It was a joke . An obvious one . <| sep |>' Dramatic leap ' for China ' s space programRIMI INOMATA , Nikkei staff writerNovember 21 , 2016 300 pm JSTTOKYO China ' s space program has come a long way over the decades , but this year marks the start of a dramatic leap , according to Teruhisa Tsujino , an expert on China ' s space efforts and a visiting fellow at Japan ' s Center for Research and Development Strategy , an affiliate of Japan Science and Technology Agency . There has been a flurry of notable successes in 2016 . Two days after the Shenzhou 11 , a manned spacecraft carrying two astronauts , was launched on Oct . 17 , it docked with the orbiting Tiangong 2 space lab . The astronauts spent about 30 days in the lab the longest for a Chinese mission . They bring the total number of astronauts launched into space on Chinese missions to 14 . On Nov . 3 , the country launched the massive Long March 5 rocket into space . It is second in size only to the U . S . rocket Delta IV Heavy , with a diameter of about 5 meters and a capacity to launch satellite maximum of 23 tons . China says the behemoth is capable of reaching the moon . This year also saw the Long March 7 rocket sent into space . That was significant for two reasons It was the first launch from the country ' s fourth launch facility , and it used a lowcontamination fuel whose main ingredient is kerosene , making it more environmentally friendly . Elite clubChina ' s space program was established in the 1950 s . In the 1970 s , China became the fifth nation to send a satellite into orbit in 2003 , it became the third country to carry out a manned space mission . If number of rocket launches serves as any kind of gauge , China is already among the space leaders . In 2011 , it overtook the U . S . in terms of launches per year . The following year , it topped Russia for satellite launches . Beijing is planning 26 launches this year . By September , it had carried out 14 , on a par with the U . S . ' s 16 and Russia ' s 14 . By the end of 2015 , China had conducted a total of 230 launches , the fourthhighest figure in the world . Of those , 94 . 3 % were successful , the secondbest performance after that of Europe . Tsujino attributed this impressive track record to space development carried out very efficiently under the autocratic leadership of the Chinese Communist Party . For one thing , Tsujino said , the government sets clear longterm goals . For example , the Chinese Academy of Sciences , the governmental research organ , has set a goal of sending manned missions to the moon by 2030 and to Mars by 2050 . The stateowned China Aerospace Science and Technology , meanwhile , has laid out an infrastructure development plan for every five years until 2025 . Also helping speed the program along , Tsujino said , is ample personnel and funding support from the army . Moon dreamsCurrently , one of China ' s big focuses is the moon . The country intends to conduct a manned lunar exploration mission by 2030 . But before that , it wants to put the Chang ' e 4 lunar probe on the dark side of the moon by 2018 , something no other country has done . Among other things , the probe would bring specimens back to Earth . The manned mission , if carried out in around 2030 , would be the first since the Apollo space program of the U . S . some 60 years earlier . 1 engGB 20161118 SpaceTablelarge 580 . pngChina may still need to hone its technology if it is to meet its space goals , Tsujino said . For example , he said expanding the use of liquid hydrogen , a propellant increasingly used by Japan , the U . S . and Europe , would improve the reliability of its missions . Lack of experience could also be a hindrance . Tsujino cited the failed launch in August of the Long March 4 C rocket , which was carrying an earth observation satellite . It was China ' s first flubbed launch in two years and eight months . S c i e n c e T e c h D r a m a t i c leapforChinasspaceprogram