Spacecraft controllers aim for the heights

Experts at a center in Beijing oversee operations of crews and missions, ensuring that nation's program continues to build upon recent successes. Zhao Lei reports.

Like many office workers, Hu Guolin and his colleagues deal with figures, charts and graphics on their computer screens.

However, the information in front of Hu's team comes from Earth's orbit or even planets hundreds of millions of kilometers away.

From the first day of its existence, people working at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center — like Hu, some of the smartest minds in China — have been tasked with applying their talent and expertise to realize the nation's ambitions in orbit, ranging from building a permanent space station to operating rovers on extraterrestrial bodies.