It’s no surprise that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) is a big supporter of the International Space Station. Using her position as chair of the space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee, for example, she has held hearings on the benefits of ISS research and has proposed designating the ISS as a “national laboratory”, a provision that may make its way into the final NASA authorization legislation. However, Hutchison revealed yesterday she is such a strong ISS supporter she is willing to consider bringing into China into the venture. The Houston Chronicle reported that Hutchison “outlined a strategy to include China in the space station” during a visit to JSC yesterday. “America needs to bring all of the countries of the world together, be the leader,” she said. The article doesn’t offer any details about that strategy, although it notes that Hutchison also wants to encourage the use of the station by federal agencies, private companies, and nonprofit organizations.
Adding China to the ISS partnership would no doubt cause some complications among some members of Congress, and introduce any number of technology transfer issues. However, as an overview of a recent conference on China’s space program noted, “Fly a single taikonaut aboard a space shuttle to the ISS, one [of the speakers] suggested, and instantly the United States is back in a clear leadership position regarding China.”
I agree. It it to the United States’ geopolitical (and probably technical and commercial) interest to bring China into this program. Resources China spends on civilian spaceflight benefit humanity and are not resources spent on military (or direct commercial) competition with the United States. I recognize that there are significant problems, but, given sufficient technological controls, I believe the likely benefits far outweigh the risks.
— Donald
As Dennis Tito pointed out most of the technology on the space station is ancient.
I would love China to be involved in this effort; maybe they can help us modernize.
Given China rate of development vs. NASA.
Perhaps NASA should out-source the entire Apollo 2.0 project to them.
Wow, Hutchinson must be really worried about the future of ISS.
That’d be a neat trick if she can pull it off. Get China stuck in LEO with this boat anchor till 2020, and get them pay double (for their own station and for the ISS) while the US spends money on the Appollo On Steroids. On one hand they might fall for it because they crave prestige and recognition esp. by NASA, on the other, they are extremely pragmatic and frugal and are not that stupid to begin with.
Bringing China and others into the fold is an excellent idea, and one I’ve advocated for a long time. Generally, I think public space efforts should seek opportunities to “share” and cooperate, while at the same time supporting a free market system dependent on competition. This is more or less what we have in the United States, though many of the interfaces between public and private domains are problematic.
Dr. Foust quoted an article that I wrote that was an account of a conference I attended on China in space. I think another relevant section of that article concerns the statements by several of the speakers that there is very strong opposition to including China in a cooperative space venture, both in the White House and the Congress. So although Hutchinson’s idea is intriguing, it simply will not happen in the current political environment.
Unfortunately, lots of good things will not happen “in the current political environment,” and lots of bad things will continue to do so.
— Donald
Perhaps the dear Congresswoman should dust of the last ISS commercialisation study that was done for them in 1999 and give that a read.
Turns out the whole thing is a waste of taxpayer money, that it was oversold from the beginning, and exists only because (a) a blatant falsehood about industrial utilisation of ISS was told during the vote to cancel the program in the early 90s, and (b) because no one has the political will to cancel it now. Instead, it bleeds to death by a thousand cuts.
Resources China spends on civilian spaceflight benefit humanity and are not resources spent on military (or direct commercial) competition with the United States.
Yeah, that logic worked so well with Russia when they joined ISS…
“Fly a single taikonaut aboard a space shuttle to the ISS, one [of the speakers] suggested, and instantly the United States is back in a clear leadership position regarding China.”
Pure delusion. Does this mean that if China flies a single astronaut aboard a Shenzhou, as would seem far more possible, given that they have an operating space tranpsort system and we do not, would that put them in a “clear leadership position” regarding us? One that we and/or the rest of the world would acknowledge? Didn’t think so.
Anyhow, if China, seeing what a GawdAwfulDeadAlbatrossTarBabyDisaster the ISS has become, nonetheless decide to yoke themselves to it, then I suppose they’d get everything they deserve. If one is really paranoid about China’s emerging space capabilities, then this would be a great way to ensure that nothing useful comes of it.
On the other hand, giving the Chinese credit for a even a smidgeon of brains, it’s hard to see them going for this. I seriously doubt they’d bite, when in all probability they could put up their own Salyut-class station more quickly and more cheaply than “cooperation” could get them on the ISS.
More interesting about the lengths Sen. Hutchinson will go than what-ifs about international cooperation. I am in favor of completing the station with Chinese rockets but that doesn’t make it likely to happen.
[using some of my office holiday party lunchtime to respond]
Mr. Koren wrote:
“Pure delusion.”
“I seriously doubt they’d bite, when in all probability they could put up their own Salyut-class station more quickly and more cheaply than “cooperation” could get them on the ISS.”
You are missing a key point, which is that the Chinese have _already_ expressed an interest in flying to ISS. Now their preference would be to fly Shenzhou there, but a taikonaut flight on shuttle could be viewed as a prelude to that.
The attractiveness of ISS to the Chinese is that it would symbolize that they are now a “real space power,” equal to the other space powers in some sense. They crave this symbolism, according to several of the experts at the conference I attended. The experts stated that the Chinese _want_ to be invited to the ISS, and have indicated so on numerous occasions in private. (My suspicion is that they don’t voice this interest publicly because they view it as part of a delicate diplomatic dance: negotiate privately so that if you are rejected, nobody knows.)
So it may be delusional that such an offer would “put the US in a leadership position again,” but it is _not_ delusional that the Chinese want to be invited to ISS in some manner. Flying a taikonaut aboard a shuttle would also be a compromise: easier than qualifying Shenzhou for an ISS visit, and also less symbolic for the Chinese, more symbolic for the United States. The Chinese might reject it for this reason, but I don’t think it would be easy for them to do so.
They also do not currently have, and will not have for at least 5-10 years, the capability of building their own space station. One should not allow a dislike of the ISS to obscure the fact that it is still a strong (and positive) symbol for many.
I agree with Mr. Day, except that the Chinese have hardly been keeping their interest in joining the Space Station project a secret. I’ve been reading about it in AvWeek for years.
While the Space Station has cost way too much, I strongly disagree regarding its usefulness once up there. But, I see no reason to rehash all of that again. Suffice it to say, if we’re going to do anything out in the Solar Systems, operations and experience are far more important to us now than technology, much of which has been demonstrated. That is what the Space Station is giving us.
— Donald
We should not only invite China but also beg for them to complete ISS. Without China, it will forever remain only partially built and only partially international, PISS.
Thus with China on board, whether our Childen look under the Christmas tree, or up into the night sky, they can repeat that Christmas refrain that keeps us all merry; MADE IN CHINA.
ISS is just another Washington parlor where millionaires entertained and political favors are done. The current occupants are not scientists, they are more like marooned campers. Space partnership with other nations should depend on their support of democracy and human rights. In my mind that leaves Europe, Canada, Brazil, and India as good candidates. It is getting harder to justify the Russian role in ISS on these grounds as they lurch backward to authoritarianism. What benefit you China collaboration bring besides accelerating technology transfer?