China able, ready to invite foreign astronauts to its space station

China able, ready to invite foreign astronauts to its space station
by Staff Writers
Jiuquan (XNA) Oct 25, 2023

China is able and ready to invite foreign astronauts to participate in China's space station flight missions, announced a senior official from the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) at a press conference on Wednesday.

"We extend an invitation to the world and welcome all countries and regions committed to the peaceful use of outer space to cooperate with us and participate in the Chinese space station missions," said Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA.

Lin also vowed to include foreign astronauts in the country's moon-landing mission once the necessary conditions are met.

China plans to realize a manned lunar landing by 2030. "We are solidly advancing our research and development work to ensure the goal is achieved as scheduled," said Lin.

Lin reaffirmed that China's manned space engineering is used exclusively for peaceful purposes and the country has neither pursued nor will pursue hegemony in space.

"We are willing to continue carrying out international cooperation and exchanges on the basis of peaceful use, equality, mutual benefit and common development," said Lin.

The collaborations include astronaut joint flights, development and experiment for space application payloads, space environment governance and aerospace science education for young people, Lin added.

China to launch extension module of space station
JIUQUAN - China will launch an extension module at an appropriate time and upgrade the basic configuration of the space station from the current T shape to a cross shape, announced a senior official from the China Manned Space Agency at a press conference on Wednesday.

The extension module will install space science experiment cabinets and large extra-vehicular experiment equipment in multiple fields with expanded application scale to meet the new needs of space science research and application, said Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA.

The space station will also upgrade the facilities and equipment related to astronauts' in-orbit protection, exercise, diet and hygiene to improve the support level of their work, life and health.

The CMSA also plans to launch a space-survey telescope to stay in the same orbit as the space station for wide-field space observation, he added.

Source: Xinhua News Agency