Now You Can Fly People & Experiments on Two Space Stations
China’s space station to open for foreign peers, China Daily
“China is willing to provide training and open the Chinese space station to foreign astronauts, senior space flight officials said. “We would like to train astronauts from other countries and organizations that have such a demand, and we would be glad to provide trips to foreign astronauts,” said Yang Liwei, deputy director of China Manned Space Agency. “We will also welcome foreign astronauts who have received our training to work in our future space station.” Yang, China’s first astronaut, who went into space in 2003, said many countries submitted proposals to the Chinese government during the development of the space station, hoping China would help train their astronauts and then send them to the station to conduct scientific experiments. “The effect of including foreign participants in our space programs is not only that these nations can send their people to outer space, but also that we will enable them to develop their own space projects.” Yang made the remarks during the five-day United Nations/China Workshop on Human Space Technology, which opened in Beijing on Monday.”
Soon it will be easier to fly experiments on China’s Space Station than ISS. You will not have to go through all the… crap to fly.
And then will come the commercial stations.
Very exciting times indeed!
Half of the members of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology don’t care about science at all; they’re just there to regulate it and make sure that the dollars allocated are used on their pet projects. The budgets, and contracts, should be decided by experts, not politicians.
Good luck China, try not to arrest any vocal citizens on your way to outpacing NASA.
A European researcher with a payload in ISS told me that with all the corruption, crime and lack of resources in Russia it was still easier to fly with the Russians than the US, because of our inefficient bureaucracy and arbitrary exclusions, i.e. of all things Chinese. China won’t make the same mistake. Their goal is not to beat us to the moon. Their goal is to prove they have “joined the club” of world leaders. Launching the first space station accessible to scientists from _all_ the nations of the world will be a step in that direction.
Not sure a Communist regime is going to be free of all the inefficient bureaucracy you accuse the US of. Time will tell just exactly what China’s end game is, but I wouldn’t put it past them to exploit this as another way to get access to new western technologies that they may not have otherwise been able to see.
You mean the classified technology on the ISS? Like the Chinese-made laptops? China went from their first manned flight to robotic and manned rendezvous and docking and a semipermanent lab module in only three manned flights. Look over their public websites with a friend who understands Chinese. Consider the LVs, the spacecraft, the ground facilities. They are not derivatives of anything we have, and only a few components are still based on Russian designs. Their end game is no secret. They want to build national pride in their domestic audience, markets for their commercial aerospace industry, and geopolitical respect as world leaders. All these goals require that they use technology that is indigenous rather than imported.
I wonder if they will break into every computer brought aboard their stations like their hotels do.
If ISS is decommisioned in 2020, then will Orbital and SpaceX offer their services to the yet-to-be-launched Chinese space station? Seemed to me that’s what Frank Culbertson was allluding to in the NASA post-Antares launch press briefing.
This might wipe out the Bigelow space station. May not be anybody left for him.
Yes that was my first thought. China can subsidize it and beat Bigelows price.
You really think SpaceX is allowed to go to the Chinese space station? ITAR will prevent this. If any engineer says anything about any interface he sits in jail. How do you do berthing without interface?
The US government made it very clear China is the next enemy and the space is the next place which will be necessary to win any war, if there will ever be any. So ITAR is focused on China and this will hit any us company.
“The US government made it very clear China is the next enemy and the space is the next place which will be necessary to win any war“
Where did you see this stated that explicitly, and by whom?
If it’s true then “The US government” to which you refer has nothing in common with those gentlemen who signed the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights.
This kind of statement is often called inflammatory, and all too often that’s an accurate description.
Of the nearly 200 countries on this planet, and an even higher number of nations, how many would “choose” the US over China to go to for access to space? Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the whole world loves America and hates China just because some aging US politicians seem to think so.
If ITAR should try to stop SpaceX or anyone else from doing business with China I think they’ll be hurting only themselves and be overruled by the US government. In the long run, and especially right now, economic survival is the only “war” being contemplated. Anyone who adversely affects the US balance of trade is likely to get clobbered, even if it means policy changes in other areas.
That’s my opinion.
The ISS and the possible Chinese stations are irrelevant. Bigelow Aerospace (who is working extensively with Boeing on it crew vehicle) is offering fixed rates on its gigantic stations. Spacex is carrying a mini version to the ISS in a couple of years.
http://www.bigelowaerospace…
http://arstechnica.com/scie…
http://www.bigelowaerospace…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…
Orbital is probably talking about supplying Bigelow. But too bad their contract says they have to burn up Cygnus. They could make there on space station with the modules and supply them. They are human rated for ISS crew. They will have a new one that is 27 cubic meters. Dragon is 11 cubic meters. Maybe this is what he was hinting at. They have a new contract with NASA to do some burning experiments in Cygnus. Safer than on ISS I guess.
The Chinese space station will be de-orbiting in a three-month timeline, yet to be confirmed
http://www.spacedaily.com/r…