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Twitter | Advertising | Archives | SupportNASA ready to work with China on space exploration, AFP
"NASA is ready to cooperate with China in space exploration, the head of the US agency said on Tuesday, as Beijing aims to send a manned mission to the moon by around 2020. "I am perfectly willing, if that's the direction that comes to me, to engage the Chinese in trying to make them a partner in any space endeavour. I think they're a very capable nation," NASA chief Charles Bolden said."
Print this articleWith the right docking adapter, we could have Shenzhou as another means for crew transport to and from the Station, seven or eight years before Orion flies.
As long as NASA can't be considered responsible if a Long March wipes out a nearby town.
Really though, fine with me.
I'm sure the monks in the Tibet are excited as NASA is.
replied to comment from john.kavanagh
| November 18, 2009 9:53 PM
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I suspect the Shenzhou already uses the APAS docking adapter from the Russians, so it should hook right up! Maybe they would sell rides cheaper than the $51 million Russia is charging us. Hey, the competition could be good!
replied to comment from Fred Sanford
| November 19, 2009 5:26 AM
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Whilst decrying both the methodology and manner of the cultural genocide of historical Tibet; it must be said that their previous societal condition: rigid theocratic feudalism left a lot to be desired.
But China is not alone in meddling with the affairs of other sovereign nations let alone invading them on some flimsy pretext.
IMHO the overriding benefit of HSF will be seen to be geo-political, as more and more nations discover that we all inhabit a pale blue dot in an immensity of space. Perhaps by devising a socio-economic model whereby the resources 'up there' can be equitably exploited... we can learn to do the same 'down here.'
The REAL question is: can NASA fit in a 'visiting' taikonaut in the limited shuttle manifest remaining, in exchange for a future seat on a Shenzhou? Who gets bumped! And before they get anywhere near the ISS, it would be prudent for the Chinese to demonstrate rendezvous and docking using their own hardware.
Festina lente.
However the response to a request to add international components and visits to the planned Chinese space station would be revealing.
Salyut vs Almaz?
Tibet? Well... it's not exactly like our hands aren't bloody too.
replied to comment from brobof
| November 19, 2009 9:03 AM
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Joint missions, particularly joint manned missions, have zero effect on geo-politics. They do not create an environment more conducive to cooperation on the ground. If you are capable of looking at past missions clearly, you'll see that the opposite is true. ASTP happened after detente had been reached; Bush 41 didn't suggest flying cosmonauts on the shuttle until after the Soviet Union was in free-fall. Additionally, in the case of ASTP, tensions between the US and the Soviet Union returned to pre-ASTP levels not long after the mission. And how incredibly awesome have US/Russia relations become after the tens of billions of real dollars and tens of billions in opportunity cost the US has shovelled into shuttle-Mir and ISS?
The premise that somehow cooperation in orbit leads to cooperation on the ground is a fallacy dreamed up by politicians and perpetuated by credulous space buffs and dewy-eyed peaceniks. The only real things that premise provides are an excuse for politicians to engage in global posturing through space spectaculars and cover for space agencies to spend more money (or, in the case of Clinton and shuttle-Mir, a means to launder money and funnel it to the Russians). The notion that joint manned missions are for "peace" and "science" is unmitigated bologna. Hu Jin Tao isn't proposing cooperation because he's worried about being pals with the US or that his nation will achieve some great scientific goals through joint space missions -- what he's worried about is increasing China's global prestige and keeping the US's nose out of China's dominance of Asia.
It's neither provincial thinking nor "Cold War ideology" to firstly be skeptical of the Chinese and their motives and secondly, and probably more importantly, to be skeptical of NASA's ability to resist being batted around by the White House on the basis that somehow, in some nebulous way which no one has ever been able to quantify, its actions will lead to better political relations with other nations.
If the US and China can agree to a deal which is actually mutually beneficial, a deal which saves money and increases knowledge, then great. But national leaders need to stop pretending that, beyond a few technical achievements in a very limited realm, kumbaya missions a la ASTP and shuttle-Mir are little more than political window dressing.
Gosh AItOawkhBeLln7grlXGlIeRTJLDmrQPjoBp-7sQ you had better dash over to wikipedia:
"the primary purpose of the mission was symbolic. ASTP was seen as a symbol of the policy of détente (relaxing or easing) that the two superpowers were beginning [my emphasis] to adopt at the time, and as a fitting end to the tension of the Space Race."They've got it all wrong! Clearly the site has been taken over by Pravda and is spreading socialist/commie/pinko lies!
You will note that (in this post at least) ASTM was not raised. But since you cite it I would merely add in passing that détente is not like an on-off switch. It is something that is maintained by mutual consent, reinforced by exercises in trust like ASTP and STS/MIR and the ISS...
With regards to the Last Citizen of the USSR I would dispute that the Belavezha Accords indicated that Russia was in a state of "Free fall." Rather it was the economic model as recommended by the USA and its poodle the IMF that eventually resulted in the rise of the oligarchs (and organised crime!) Hmmm. Regime change would smell as sweet! Russia is still recovering from that intervention.
But the real crisis hit in 1998! Personally this peacenik space cadetski is amazed that the Russians managed to maintain MIR during all the upheavals! Just as well that they did:
""Tonight, I am directing NASA to develop a permanently manned space station and to do it within a decade."As time ticked by the inevitability of Cosmonauts on the Shuttle became greater and greater, the further Freedom slipped to the right. Now there's irony the Russians rescue the Old Gipper's Pledge. How's that for a 'peace' dividend! But enough history.
"The notion that joint manned missions are for "peace" and "science" is unmitigated bologna"
ESA? JAXA?? and especially the Bologna branch of the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana??? Gosh! If AItOawkhBeLln7grlXGlIeRTJLDmrQPjoBp-7sQ is correct in this assertion then perhaps the rest of the world should take heed and break off cooperation with America in space matters and leave it to fester in its own isolationist rhetoric! How do you feel about joint robotic missions? Are they OK?
But returning to the topic: Alas I suspect that what Hu Jintao is really worried about is the American economy going belly up and leaving him carrying the bag! Perhaps what goes around comes around and China will have to "shovel" tens of billions of real Yuan and tens of billions in opportunity cost into ARES V and the American Segment!
Finally this dewy eyed space buff would note that one thing to come out of ASTP was APAS which may lead to LIDS or better still the IBDM.
Window dressing? Or a global consensus in the form of real hardware?
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Well, since China own's $800 Billion of US debt I guess they are already partners in the ISS.