Hard road to commercial space

摘要

Some 30 years ago China started a historic transition from the Stalin style centrally planned economy to the market economy, which was known as "reform and opening up". The country shifted its focus to economic development and this had a great impact on the country's space programme. Many military and scientific space projects were cancelled or postponed, with only application satellite programmes and launch vehicle development surviving as government funds flowing to the space programme were significantly reduced.