"Last November we had a delegation from the Chinese astronaut training center, they came over for a week at EAC [European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany] and we explained to them how our training program works," Chesson said.
That visit was preceded on Oct. 8, 2012 by the China Manned Space Agency's director general Wang Zhaoyao and the first Chinese female astronaut, Liu Yang, visiting Dordain, at ESA's Parisian headquarters. Yang was involved in the 2012 Shenzhou-9 mission that docked with Tiangong-1.
Following these two visits, a delegation of ESA astronauts and trainers will be going to Beijing in April to see how the Chinese train their crews, Chesson said.
Learning Chinese
With this growing relationship, ESA now offers introductory Chinese classes for its astronauts at the EAC.
Frank De Winne, a Belgian-born astronaut and head of ESA's astronaut corps, confirmed to SPACE.com that an astronaut exchange program was ongoing. But: "No discussion has taken place as to a potential flight by a European astronaut on a specific Shenzhou capsule," he said.
Joint astronaut training, Chinese lessons and Chesson's third working group, the exchange of payload facilities and experiments, all point to preparations for future missions for ESA crew on China's spacecraft. Chesson said that ESA is "seriously looking" at providing experiments for future Tiangong missions.
De Winne told SPACE.com that European experiments on a Tiangong mission or the future Chinese space station will "depend on the ESA member states' decision as well as the Chinese disposition."
The exchange of experiments could conceivably lead to Chinese science being carried out on the International Space Station by ESA astronauts. "For the moment, there are no specific experiments that have been identified," and any Chinese experiment on ISS "would have to first be discussed with the ISS partners," De Winne explained.
ESA has a history of cooperating with China on Earth observation since the 1990s and, more recently, under the Dragon programs — joint ESA-China programs for Earth observation that have been ongoing since 2004.
While ESA is forging ahead with Chinese cooperation, NASA is prohibited from engaging in bilateral cooperative activities with China or any Chinese owned companies, per a directive from Congress.
- Photos: China's First Space Station
- Gallery: Tiangong 1, China's First Space Laboratory
- Inside China's Space Rendezvous Success (Infographic)
Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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8 Comments
Add CommentBuilding a cheaper space station! That sounds like the solution. You go, not me.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Congressional restriction on NASA against cooperating with the Chinese is one of the most stupid things Congress has done. You don't think the Chinese haven't already read every engineering and science document created by NASA? Outside of military products, we buy everything else they make. There's nothing cheap about the Chinese space effort.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs Congress going to compound the issue and prevent US space industry from selling LEO services to the Chinese? I hope not. That's an area where the US is ALREADY behind the Russians, the Europeans and maybe the Chinese some day. If the Chinese go big into commercial launch services, the Chinese space program could certainly pay for itself.
When it comes to manned space missions, the Chinese are going slow BUT they are extremely concerned at having one of their astronauts get hurt or killed. Having the Chinese involved in ISS would probably allow or encourage more future cooperative projects like an international effort to Mars. Thereby preventing a "Space Race" mentality that got at least 3 Astronauts killed in Apollo 1 and 7 in Challenger. In both instances, there was a "NASA-self-induced" or political element that pushed for going ahead with either a test event or a launching when it shouldn't have happened.
@dbtinc,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou don't need to pay 75$ for a hammer to make a good space station. And you don't need to fund Lockheed, Boeing and pork barrel politics.
you are so right, unfortunately the privateers of activities that are best done by gubment have taken over NASA and that's why despite the idiocy of adding to the cost of missions thanks to the need to include a profit motive we are staying the course.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisImagine if we could shave off the built-in 20% profit margin how many missions could be resurrected.
Both Obama and Romney used "China bashing" during the campaign. Now that Obama has won, he can let up a bit and cooperate with the second largest economy in the world where it is advantageous to do so.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe allow China to take over all our manufacturing. We give over 100,000 high-tech jobs to Chinese and Indians every year. We borrow trillions to fund our Middle-East charity wars. But, when it comes to potentially selling the Chinese 2 trillion in spaceware, with the benefit that we humans get an awesome space station ... and our space contractors get a new lease on the future ... well, no .. better let our friends in Germany do that ... cuz, you know, the Germans are so good at preventing psychopaths from destroying the world.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm no luddite. Kennedy's moon race brought us digital watches, pocket calculators, compact computers, and probably lots more, things that changed our lives. I don't know the cost and won't judge which changes are for the better and which are for the worse. Unfortunately, I don't know of any significant changes the "our" space station has brought about other than inspiring some youngsters to get interested or more interested in science, technology, engineering, and math.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI just hope that the Chinese and Europeans don't just build a showpiece that (they hope) will plunge into the ocean without hurting people or damaging property.
I'd really appreciate any responses explaining what benefit we have gotten from the space station.
I am not a Luddite ither.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI know however that Eisenhower,US Government and Military got shocked and scared shitless when Sputnic was lauched.
When Kennedy got elected he talked about Science but the real reason for the Appolo Program was to show that America was better,smarter etc.than those Communists.
As soon as Mike,Buzz and the other fellow made a succesful trip to and back from the Moon , the Public began to lose interest in the Moon and Space.
If you study the Challanger tragedy you will find that the risk to the crew was subserviant to the pressure to launch at such freezing temperature.
The American tendancy is to underestimate and deride the enemy . Remember the idea prior to WW2 that Japanese had their eyes too close together to make good Fighter Pilots.
I believe that the Chinese are well on their way for this proposed Space program.
They do not chop and change direction frequently like USA.
Just a few thoughts of someone far away over the sea.