China to launch a space-themed commemorative note

The People's Bank of China has announced that a new commemorative 100-yuan note will be issued. The beautiful blue note commemorates the Chinese space program. The banknote will be issued from 26 November 2015, measures 155 x 77 mm and 300 million pieces will be printed.

The front of the note depicts the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft docking with the Tiangong 1 space station, which occured on 18 June 2012. To the left we can see the Dongfanghong 1, China's first satellite launched in 1970. On the right side is the Chang'e 1 lunar-orbiting spacecraft. The back of the note shows a sort of ladder with the different stages of flight, starting at the bottom with a bird, above that an early plane by Chinese aviation pioneer Feng Ru. Next we have a fighter jet, then the future Tiangong 3 space station which will be launched in 2020 and at the top we see the Chang'e 1 lunar-orbiting spacecraft again.

I like commemorative banknotes and I love them even more when they have a space theme (check out my space and astronomy notes blog). So this is one I'm definitely getting for my collection!