Ending the Olympics - Another Chinese spectacular ? Fireworks in Space ?

As a wonderful £2.4 Mn finale to the Peking Olympics David Beckham is due to appear on top of a London Routemaster and kick a football into the crowd. Wow!

What spectacular have the Chinese in store for us ?

Will their space program launch something to remind the world that their efforts in space are moving ahead lickety splick ?

Yang Liwei, the first astronaut of the manned spacecraft Shenzhou V, was the first torchbearer in Beijing, and the opening ceremony torch was lit by Li Ning after his 'run in-space'.

Could it be Yinghuo-1 their first Mars orbital explorer ?

Could it be a major Shenzhou mission, with multiple crew members for a space walk spectacular , launched on the Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center ?

Maybe the launch of the 2 tonne Solar space telescope, which it is claimed will provide 3 years worth of results that exceed anything so far achieved by SOHO, the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory project between NASA and ESA.

Surely after their first robotic Moon mission they won't be ready for a manned moon shot will they ? Will they ?