Is there any greater chance now that China may want to (and be allowed to) co-operate in the international space station?
The purpose of the Shenzhou program is to improve China’s technical base and international prestige at relatively modest cost. There is little likelihood that China will invest in the immensely costly NASA/ESA/JASA/RKA International Space Station, which in any case is in jeopardy with NASA’s flagging support. Aviation Week has recently suggested that NASA seek Chinese co-operation in going to Mars. But given NASA’s track record as a poor partner in international space projects, the Chinese might rightly see this as the kiss of death for their space program. In the 1970’s, when the Soviet space industry was in crisis, the Russians pursued the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program as a means of understanding the management techniques and technology that allowed America to win the space race. Unfortunately, in the 21st Century, there is nothing the Chinese might seek to learn from NASA except how not to run a space program, and how to not do so at the greatest possible expense • Could China’s broad s
