With Beijing’s first test flight of a spacecraft capable of sending astronauts into orbit, China is telling the West – as well as its home crowd – it should be treated as a great power on the world stage. Yuan Jiajun, a test flight official at the Chinese Academy of Space Technology says Beijing’s push to send its first astronaut into space is just the first step in a more ambitious program to help found human colonies on the moon and Mars, and then extend man’s reach beyond the solar system.