We have an update on a 21st-century space race coming up in just a couple of minutes.

First, though, family members, politicians, historians, and civil rights advocates are paying tribute to Colin Powell, an American military and political leader who passed away Monday at age 84.

Powell had an extraordinary resume dating all the way back to his work in the Reserve Officer Training Corps while he was in college.

At that time, Powell attained the ROTC's highest rank and he continued to advance his military career from there.

Powell served in combat during the Vietnam War and became a four-star general in the US Army.

During the presidency of Ronald Reagan, Powell became America's first black national security advisor.

Under President George H. W. Bush, Powell became the first African-American Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, the country's highest-ranking military officer.

And in the administration of President George W. Bush, Powell became America's first black secretary of state.

In a statement on Monday, Former President Bush called Powell a great public servant, saying he was such a favorite of US leaders that he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice.

One regret Powell said he had came after a speech he gave at the United Nations in 2003.

In his address, Secretary Powell warned that the nation of Iraq was hiding biological weapons, something inspectors never found afterward during the US-led war with the Middle Eastern country.

Powell called the speech "a blot" on his record.

He worked as a speaker, an author, and an adviser at a venture capital firm after serving in the federal government.

Powell's family says he died from complications from COVID-19, though he had been fully vaccinated against the disease.

Up next, 183 days in space.

That's how long three crew members from China will be in orbit, working on their country's new space station, taking spacewalks, testing out the facility's technology⏤that's part of their mission.

It's the second time a crew has been sent up here to work on the orbiting lab.

China hopes to have it fully built and operating by next December.

The country has scheduled six missions after this one to help make that happen.

China's space program is overseen by the nation's military, according to a US National security researcher.

That's one reason why the US Congress has prevented NASA from cooperating with China in space.

But the communist country's program is advancing rapidly, contributing to what some call "a new space race in the 21st century".

90-year-old star trek actor William Shatner blasted into space, becoming the oldest man to reach such heights amid great fanfare in the US.

Oh, wow!

Thousands of miles away here in the Gobi desert, China's latest space mission won't set any records, but it is a major step forward in this country's fast-growing and increasingly ambitious space program.

CNN gaining rare access to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.

Shenzhou-13 carrying three Chinese astronauts to the country's soon-to-be-completed space station called Tiangong, or "Heavenly Palace".

China has touted their space station as next generation, an alternative to the International Space Station.

But the 15-country ISS has already been occupied for more than 20 years.

The US passed a law barring china from participating, leading some experts to question:

If we had brought China in to work with us on ISS, would China have felt as compelled to develop their own fully-independent program as rapidly as they have?

It's Hollywood's portrayal coming to reality⏤Sandra Bullock's character in "Gravity" saved by a Chinese space station on her way back to Earth.

Wang, Ya-ping told us in 2015, it is her favorite film.

She is one of three Chinese astronauts on this mission.

The crew also includes a newcomer to space travel⏤41-year-old Ye, Guang-fu, who took part in cave training with astronauts from five countries in 2016.

I hope one day I can fly with other international astronauts in space and welcome them to visit China's space station.

But Western astronauts will need to study up first.

These operation interfaces are in Chinese, and China's state media reports that European astronauts are already taking language courses so they can visit the Chinese space station.

Despite a late start in the space race, China is rapidly catching up.

It has returned samples from the moon and, like the US, put a rover on MARS, all within the last year.

It's also got big plans for commercial ventures and for deep space exploration, including to build a base on the moon with Russia and send humans to Mars in the 2030s.

From launching billionaires to cosmic explorations, the US is still leading, with plenty of headline-grabbing launches and a long history of success putting 12 men on the moon.

But the more pressing challenge?

Prioritizing the multi-billions in funding needed for the US to hold on to that lead.

Some experts believe the added competition from China might fuel more innovation.

If you're somebody who wants to see, um, humans land on Mars and more scientific probes throughout the solar system, um, geopolitical competition is probably not the worst thing in the world.

While Captain Kirk is helping capture US imaginations to propel the US forward in this tightening space race,

China's three astronauts now embarking on a six-month mission⏤the country's longest yet⏤to secure their footing out of this world.

David Culver, CNN, Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China.

10-second trivia: Which of these inventions came first?

Electric vacuum cleaner, electronic calculator, enclosed shopping mall, or electric car.

Believe it or not, the electric car was the first of these inventions; it hit the road in the 1890s.

Up next: A new example of what could become an air taxi of the future.

It's not a helicopter, it's not a plane, and it's also not a drone.

This would have a pilot, but it is another entry into the increasingly crowded field of potential air taxis.

Joby Aviation's eVTOL has a range of up to 150 miles on a single battery charge⏤that's about half the distance of many gas-powered helicopters.

It has a lot of competition from other electric aerial vehicle startups, and none of them have approval from the US government to fly commercial passengers yet.

But the eVTOL has some pretty unique features.

So I think what travel is gonna look like in the future is one that's increasingly multimodal; it's really about putting people on the right vehicle for the trip that they wanna take.

It may not look like your typical helicopter or plane, but out here in the middle of the desert, Joby Aviation, a California-based eVTOL company, says it's on the brink of making electric aircraft for commercial passengers a reality.

eVTOL stands for electric vertical takeoff and landing, meaning the aircraft can take off and land like a helicopter but also fly like a plane.

So the Joby aircraft does everything that a helicopter does with none of the downsides.

So it's significantly safer, significantly faster, and significantly quieter than the helicopters that are out there today.

Something that can be a brand-new mode of transportation that's usable by folks every day.

Joby says its aircraft can travel up to 150 miles on a single charge, at a max speed of 200 miles per hour.

While other electric vehicles today aim to be autonomous, Joby's aircraft will allow space for four passengers and one pilot.

New York's famous skyline unrolls beneath its rotors, after which it sur⏤

Trying to get places faster and skip the traffic isn't a new concept, but Joby thinks its vehicles will improve upon traditional helicopters.

The company says a streamlined design means there's less maintenance, and electric batteries not only lower carbon emissions, they reduce energy costs and noise pollution.

I think this service really allows people to rethink the way that we've thought about transportation, which has generally been thought about two dimensions, and really bring that to three dimensions.

In 2020, Joby received the first-ever Airworthiness Certification for an eVTOL aircraft from the US Air Force and says it plans to offer commercial flights in 2024.

It's hard to wrap your little "pumpkin" head around this.

If you take pumpkin carving seriously, and I mean so much so that you can't stop at one Jack-o-lantern, check out the great Jack-O-Lantern Blaze in New York.

It features 7,000 illuminated gourds to depict everything from this, to this, and this.

A team of professional artists and more than 1,000 volunteers worked together to create the spectacle; takes about an hour to see it all.

Oh, my "gourdness", what a "vine" way to "carve" a tourist attraction out of "fruit".

They make it look easy as "pie" like all you "seed" to know is how to "scare" up a "pulpable" pumpkin.

But most of us couldn't hold a "candle" to the "extragourdinnarrry" efforts of professional "carvists".

"Orange" you glad we "planted" that in today's show?

I'm "Carvel" Azuz. Today we are going to recognize the Patriots of Northside High School.

Thank you for watching from Columbus, Georgia, and for subscribing and leaving a comment at YouTube.com/CNN10.