New China Space Milestone an Opening for the U.S.
Dean Cheng /
Even as NASA and the rest of the US government continue to debate about how it will sustain a manned presence in space, the Chinese government has now announced that the first module of the Tiangong-1 (Heavenly Palace) space lab will be launched next year. Expected to weigh about 8.5 tonnes, the module will provide a target for Chinese spacecraft to practice docking maneuvers — an essential part of both a long-term presence in space and for any mission to the Moon or beyond.
Yet, the announcement also constitutes a reprieve of sorts for US space policy planners. The module was originally supposed to be orbited in 2010, followed by docking maneuvers with Chinese missions Shenzhou-VIII (expected to be unmanned), and Shenzhou-IX and -X (both manned) in subsequent years. The Chinese announcement of a launch date shifted to next year included the statement that the module had encountered technical difficulties. Given the pace of Chinese manned launches, which have generally been every other year, this suggests that the Chinese may not engage in further manned missions until 2011, or even 2013.