U.S. Snubbed China's Offer for Space Cooperation: 'Technology Not Mature'
By Tariq Malik
SPACE.com Staff Writer
posted: 09:30 am ET
28 April 2004
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL -- Despite joining the elite club of nations to have successfully launched humans into space, China remains an outsider with the United State, reaching out to other spacefaring countries, an expert on Chinese space exploration said Tuesday.
The Chinese National Space Administration was surprised to receive a cold reaction from the U.S. after the successful flight of taikonaut Yang Liwei in October 2003, said Joan Johnson-Freese, an expert on China’s space efforts.
“The Chinese were shocked to find that now that they had a manned space program the U.S. would not work with them,” Johnson-Freese said during the 41st Space Congress underway here. “They were told their ‘technology was not mature.’”
For over a decade, China has fueled its human space flight program to the collective tune of $2.2 billion. That figure comes from Zhou Xiaofei, Manager of the Manned Spaceflight Department within the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
Zhou revealed the cost number at an International Space Law Seminar 2004, which opened on Apr 26 in Beijing, and was reported by China's People's Daily Online.
A sizeable amount of those dollars, Zhou said, were used on construction of various facilities, including new structures at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, for an astronaut training center, and at the Beijing Spaceflight Center. These facilities not only provide necessary conditions for assembly, test and experiment, but also serve as the foundation for "sustainable development" of China's manned spaceflight project, he reported.
Other funds were detailed to development of the Shenzhou piloted spacecraft, Zhou added, such as the carrier rocket and seven major systems for the project. A hefty chunk of funding was spent on four unpiloted Shenzhou shakeout missions before their first human flight of a Shenzhou V took place last October.
Despite this investment, and China's cautious approach to the launching of its manned missions, the U.S. remained unmoved. Questions over whether China’s space effort is a civilian program, or a military endeavor that could eventually threaten the U.S., were reportedly responsible for the U.S.’s uncooperative reaction.
“China is at least two decades behind the U.S. in military technology and ability,” Johnson-Freese said. But it is possible to develop military space technology through a manned program, there were discussions over whether China’s piloted Shenzhou spacecraft could serve as a reconnaissance platform, she added.
Yang’s historic flight carried him around the Earth 14 times during his 21-hour flight aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. The flight’s success made China only the third nation to loft a human into space.
Anticipating future space cooperation with the U.S., China fitted the Shenzhou craft with a docking ring capable of linking up with the International Space Station (ISS) and has at least one launch site, Jiuquan, located at near the same latitude as NASA’s Cape Canaveral, which would allow similar launch profiles, Johnson-Freese said. She added that the wall between China and U.S. space officials prompted at least one Chinese space official to tears.
The cool reception from the U.S. prompted China to turn to other nations and coalitions like the European Space Agency (ESA), where the country has sunk $259 million in the multinational Galileo project. China is also spending $170 million for a moon rover, she added.
Johnson-Freese, who also chairs the National Security Decision Making Department of the U.S. Naval College, routinely tours China to view its launch sites and other space capabilities. China, she said, sees its budding manned space program as a sign of economic development and a way of impressing nearby neighbors like Pakistan and Iran.
Chinese space officials are now planning an October 2004 launch for Shenzhou 6, a two-person mission to last up to seven days, Johnson-Freese said. The Chinese space agency also plans to begin recruiting female taikonuts in 2005.
