“My personal belief is that countries like China, which is only the third nation able to launch astronauts, should be included. Leroy Chiao a veteran of four launches and a member of the second Augustine Commission. It should be used and expanded upon for use in international beyond-LEO human space exploration,” said Dr. “One of the findings of the Augustine Commission was that the international framework that came out of the ISS program is one of the most important. So, never say never on China, I guess.”ĭuggins is not the only space expert who feels that China would make a good companion when mankind once again ventures out past low-Earth-orbit.
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“It turned out Russian crew capsules saved the International Space Station when the Shuttles were grounded after the Columbia accident in 2003.
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“In the early 1990’s, some at NASA thought having Russian cosmonauts on the Space Shuttle would mean giving away trade secrets to the competition,” said Pat Duggins, author of the book Trailblazing Mars. It should be noted however that Russia had similar issues before being included in the International Space Station program. Some have raised concerns about the nation’s human rights track record. Both China's rocket and spacecraft are derived from Soviet Soyuz designs. has been hesitant to include China due to concerns about the use of what are known as dual-use technologies (rockets that can launch astronauts can also launch nuclear weapons). This has been part of the reason that the U.S. However, if China wants to accomplish these goals, they will need a more powerful booster. China has stated publically that they want to launch a space station and send their taikonauts to the moon – neither of which are small feats.Ĭhina currently utilizes its Shenzhou spacecraft atop the Long March 2F booster from their Jiuquan facility. Considering that China very ambitious goals for space this would seem a prudent course of action. Photo Credit: XinhuaĬhina has steadily, but surely, built and tested capabilities essential for a robust manned space program. Yang Liwei became the first of China's Taikonaut when he rocketed into orbit in 2003. The third and most current manned mission that China has launched was launched in 2008 and held a crew of three. The country’s next mission contained two of these taikonauts and took place in 2005. This first mission only had a single person onboard, and gave the world a new word – ‘taikonaut’ (taikong is the Chinese word for space). It would be a positive step if the other space-faring nation of the world, China, were to join the assembled space explorers of humankind as we march outward into the solar system,” said former NASA Space Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale who writes a popular blog about space matters.Ĭhina is only the third nation (behind Russia and the United States) to have a successful manned space program, having launched its first successful manned space flight in 2003. “International partnership in space exploration has proven its worth over the last decade. astronauts and Russian cosmonauts? Only time will tell. Will we one day see Chinese taikonauts working alongside U.S. If so, then one crucial player is being given a hard look to see if they should be included – China. With much of the nations of the world talking about stepped-up manned exploration efforts it would seem only natural that the successful model used on the space station be incorporated into the highly-expensive business of manned space exploration.