It is the year 2053. Zhang Jianwei, a Chinese air force colonel, peeps out of the cockpit of his “Ziqiang VIII” space shuttle to catch a last glimpse of the Jiuquan Space Center before blasting off to Mars. Sitting next to him is Neil Glenn, a US Air Force major who has been invited to visit China’s “Red Horizon” base on Mars, as a goodwill gesture to the American losers in the race to send a man to the red planet.