| China plans space station for the 2020s, eyes Moon trip |
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| Submitted by actz | |
| Thursday, 15 October 2009 | |
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The People's Republic of China has unveiled plans to have a sizeable crewed space station orbiting the Earth by 2020. The Chinese space agency is also looking ahead to a manned Moon mission, though no timetable has been announced for this. Flight International reports today on the Chinese announcements, made at the International Astronautical Congress underway at the moment in South Korea. The magazine quotes China's Manned Space Engineering programme deputy general designer Wang Zhonggui as stating that the PRC plans to assemble its space station from three modules sent up separately aboard Long March 5 booster stacks. It would remain operational throughout the 2020s, and would follow on from a smaller orbital laboratory project set to launch in 2015. As to the moon plans, Zhonggui was reportedly cautious, saying that concept studies were underway but that no firm schedule had been set. "The Moon is still far away for our technology," he told Flight, noting that NASA's mighty Saturn V moon-rockets of yesteryear could put 118 tonnes into low Earth orbit - enough for all the hardware required for a return trip to the Moon. By contrast the Long March 5, planned to launch from 2015, will be able to loft only 20 tonnes. More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/15/chinese_space_plans/ |
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