Space cooperation between China and the United States may finally be getting off the ground a year after China put a man in orbit, with the two countries holding their first talks and planning a series of exchanges.
Sun Laiyan, head of China’s National Space Administration, met NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe in Washington on Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Xinhua quoted Sun as saying they agreed to establish a regular exchange.
The meeting signaled an acknowledgment that the United States cannot afford to ignore Beijing’s ambitious space plans, which attracted worldwide attention when China sent former fighter pilot Yang Liwei into space last October.
“We’ll see what future collaboration might be possible, but the right people are talking,” American astronaut Lee Morin told students at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics on Friday.
More visits planned
Two weeks ago, Chinese representatives joined a NASA workshop in Washington, and Xinhua quoted Sun as saying O’Keefe could visit China in 2005.
China is not among the nations working on the multibillion-dollar international space station, but its Shenzhou spacecraft has a built-in docking ring that would allow it to park at the station, a signal of its desire for cooperation.
Nonetheless, the United States must overcome concerns that China could use its space program for military purposes and one day threaten U.S. dominance in military satellite communications.
Astronaut entrances audience
Morin entranced his audience of potential astronauts with descriptions of the more than 250 hours he has logged in space, many spent working on the space station NASA hopes will be completed by 2010.
He rejected any suggestion that the United States was giving the cold shoulder to China’s space program, which is entertaining ambitions for another manned mission next year and its own space station in less than 20 years.
“I would say that China’s achievements in space are truly remarkable and are admired in the United States. ... China has joined the tiers of a very select group of nations,” he said.
Robotics student Tian Haiting said it was time the world woke up to the fact China had joined the United States and Russia in putting a human in space.
“I think that we should strengthen cooperation in this field, because China is a big aerospace country. There is a lot of room for development in this field, so the world should turn their eyes towards China,” he told Reuters.
Despite his descriptions of the beauty of Earth seen from space and the band of blue that marks its atmosphere as seen from a height of 240 miles (400 kilometers), Morin said outer space was “very frightening” and not for the faint of heart.
“It’s the blackest black you can imagine,” he said. “It makes you think you’re going to fall into an infinite pool of ink and vanish.”
