Posted by Ray Katz in current, moon
Chinese space station to launch in 2011
China's ambitious space plans: Why not a space station AND the moon?
The first module of China’s space station is scheduled for launch next year.
The station will be called “Heavenly Palace”. The initial module (called Mandarin) will form a core into which future modules will be docked.
Mandarin is pretty big. It’s 30 feet long and weighs in at 8.5 tons. (okay, in space it’s weightless…) Still, it’s a lot smaller than Skylab, which was 84 feet long. On the other hand, Mandarin is only one module of what will be a bigger space station.
One analyst says the planned launch of the space station demonstrates that China’s lunar program has been back-burnered. I disagree. The analyst presumes that China can’t or won’t advance two major space projects at the same time.
But, unlike the U.S., China’s economy is strong and China has shown strong support for manned flight. I think the Chines are planning to still do both the station and (ultimately) a manned lunar flight.
