NASA Officials To Make Historic Trip To China

New Scientist ^ | 9-22-2006 | Kelly Young

[blam]

NASA officials to make historic trip to China

21:05 22 September 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Kelly Young

A group of NASA officials is about to begin a historic trip to China in an effort to establish preliminary ties between the Chinese and US space programmes.

"No NASA administrator has been to China," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said after the recent launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. "We have never had any significant discussions with China about space."

China joined the space elite when it became the third nation to launch its own crewed rocket in 2003 (see Confident China joins space elite).

Laiyan Sun, the administrator of the China National Space Administration, invited Griffin to make the trip, which lasts from Saturday to Thursday. Griffin will visit Beijing and Shanghai and tour aerospace facilities around the country.

It is not clear exactly what sort of cooperation will come of the trip, however. Despite the fact that China has repeatedly asked to participate in the International Space Station, the US has always refused.

[Thunder90]

China is joining the International Space Station project.

[Jaysun]

Thank God. That shitwagon in the sky needs a few more players. Thank God for NASA. And Tang, Velcro, and "memory" mattresses (none of which they invented).

What a sham.

[My2Cents]

Trying to get back some of our rocket technology.

[operation clinton cleanup]

Maybe they can teach us how to land a crew capsule on a dry lake bed.

[Nuc1]

Don't give them our missile guidance systems...oops too late Clintoon beat ya to it./S

[GeronL]

I guess we need to give them more technology so there will be parity

[DoughtyOne]

Whew, finally we'll be able to give China what little technology they haven't stolen by now. Excellent...