What do you get when you mix Cape Canaveral and Hawaii and place them in China? You find yourself in Wenchang city on Hainan Island.
Hainan is an island province in China and the nation's southernmost - and therefore warmest - spot. Surrounding its forested, mountainous interior are tropical beaches, with most tourists flocking to the resort town of Sanya.
Inaugurated in 2016 with the launch of the Long March 7 rocket, the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site is modern and colourful, putting it in stark contrast with the country's first space centre, Jiuquan, which was opened in 1958 in the remote Gobi desert and managed by the military for a long period of time.
While Jiuquan houses its own city accommodating staff, in Wenchang workers and their families live outside, mixing with visitors.
But what really makes Wenchang different is the fact that visitors are allowed inside, allowing tourists to merge beach and space activities.
Observation centres outside the space centre have a capacity of nearly 25,000 people, and a Hilton hotel is said to have the best view of the launch site.
The Chinese government now plans to build a huge space theme park, with an annual capacity of two million people.
This development shows off the Chinese government's strategy in promoting its space program locally and abroad, with the aim of making its achievements in the field well known.
This strategy is being further pushed with the creation of Space Day, to be celebrated on April 24, when information about the centre and its programs will be broadcast through state-run network CCTV.
China hopes to be the first country in the world to have its own space station by 2022, while it is also conducting other innovative missions, such as the Chang'e-5 lunar probe, which will collect samples from the Moon's surface and bring them to Earth.
With all future major missions now set to take off from Wenchang, the space centre's popularity looks set to soar.
Hainan is an island province in China and the nation's southernmost - and therefore warmest - spot. Surrounding its forested, mountainous interior are tropical beaches, with most tourists flocking to the resort town of Sanya.
Inaugurated in 2016 with the launch of the Long March 7 rocket, the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site is modern and colourful, putting it in stark contrast with the country's first space centre, Jiuquan, which was opened in 1958 in the remote Gobi desert and managed by the military for a long period of time.
While Jiuquan houses its own city accommodating staff, in Wenchang workers and their families live outside, mixing with visitors.
But what really makes Wenchang different is the fact that visitors are allowed inside, allowing tourists to merge beach and space activities.
Observation centres outside the space centre have a capacity of nearly 25,000 people, and a Hilton hotel is said to have the best view of the launch site.
The Chinese government now plans to build a huge space theme park, with an annual capacity of two million people.
This development shows off the Chinese government's strategy in promoting its space program locally and abroad, with the aim of making its achievements in the field well known.
This strategy is being further pushed with the creation of Space Day, to be celebrated on April 24, when information about the centre and its programs will be broadcast through state-run network CCTV.
China hopes to be the first country in the world to have its own space station by 2022, while it is also conducting other innovative missions, such as the Chang'e-5 lunar probe, which will collect samples from the Moon's surface and bring them to Earth.
With all future major missions now set to take off from Wenchang, the space centre's popularity looks set to soar.
Source: AAP
