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posted by martyb on Thursday May 31 2018, @08:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the there's-an-HTML/CSS-joke-in-here-somewhere dept.

China just invited the world to its space station

At a time when NASA and its partners are trying to decide how long to maintain the International Space Station, China has taken the significant step of inviting the world to its planned orbital station. The China Space Station, or CSS, could become operational as soon as 2022.

"CSS belongs not only to China, but also to the world," said Shi Zhongjun, China's ambassador to the UN and other international organizations in Vienna. "All countries, regardless of their size and level of development, can participate in the cooperation on an equal footing."

Such an announcement represents potentially the greatest soft power threat of the last six decades to US and Russian dominance of spaceflight. In the public announcement of this policy on China's state news service Xinhua, Chinese officials said the country stands ready to help other developing countries interested in space technology—and in having their own space programs.

This inclusive approach (though just how inclusive an authoritarian government can be remains to be seen) offers a rebuke of sorts to the US government and the International Space Station. By law, the US forbids direct involvement between China's space program and NASA. Some at NASA want to change this, but Congress has established such rules to prevent technology transfer.

Also at The Verge and Popular Mechanics.


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 31 2018, @08:44PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 31 2018, @08:44PM (#686921)

    Sounds like they've realized what a tremendous money pit it is to run a space station.

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  • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by RS3 on Thursday May 31 2018, @08:49PM

    by RS3 (6367) on Thursday May 31 2018, @08:49PM (#686924)

    Feeding humans is a money pit. We all die eventually.

  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday June 01 2018, @01:04AM

    by bob_super (1357) on Friday June 01 2018, @01:04AM (#687008)

    Following that logic, the US should open up its military to other countries.