China To Cooperate Globally On Chinese Space Station

AsianScientist (Jun. 8, 2012) – China is ready to cooperate globally on its space station, said Cheng Jingye, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna.

Ambassador Chen made this announcement while addressing the 55th session of the UN Committee On The Peaceful Uses of Outer Space at Vienna on Wednesday.

“China is willing to co-operate with other countries and provide the opportunities for more countries, particularly developing nations in the construction of the Chinese Space Station,” he said.

Current indications suggest that the station is tentatively slated for launch around 2020 and will be placed in the low earth orbit. The space station project, which is part of Project 921 of the Chinese space program, will incorporate indigenous capability with international compatibility,

The launch of the Chinese space station comes at a time when the 17-nation International Space Station is expected to be deactivated.

The diplomat also announced that China will launch its manned Shenzhou-9 spacecraft later this year which will rendezvous and dock with Tiangong-1, the Chinese space laboratory, now in orbit. Speculation is rife that Shenzhou-9 in all probability will have a women crew member.

He also told the meeting that China will strive for what he termed as “inclusive development” of outer space which will consist of three aspects. These are:-

• Tolerance for space environment.
• Tolerance for all countries.
• Tolerance for the entire mankind.

Chen said that China believes that the promotion of the “inclusive development” of outer space is needed to deal with large challenges worldwide. According to him, this program will prove beneficial to different countries, particularly those which do not have space capabilities.

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Copyright: Asian Scientist Magazine.
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