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 [...]

I find myself imagining this:
It’s September 2021. The world is watching as a Taikonaut—a Chinese astronaut—steps onto the lunar surface. It’s an incredible view, which I watch on my high-definition video glasses. I see it in real time, except for the 2 1/2 second delay to get the signal from the moon.
The Chinese lander is [...]

Now that the United States has abandoned manned space flight, and will scrap its Constellation program, the new race for the moon has two players: China and India.
China—with a bigger budget and a few manned flights under its belt—has to be considered the favorite. That said, India has good engineers and seems determined to plow [...]

The Russians have been working on something exciting for more than a decade—and now they’ll have to wait a little bit longer.
The Phobos-Grunt mission will launch in 2011 (not 2009 as originally planned) and, if all goes well, will return rocks and soil from the Martian moon.

The three year mission will also carry a Chinese [...]

With Ares/Orion and NASA’s Constellation program apparently on the ropes, that raises a question. Who will be the next person to approach the moon? And when?
There are a number of possibilities. For example, China is methodically expanding it’s manned space flight capabilities. And they’ve announced plans to get people to the moon. But they’ve had [...]

The Chinese space program has some impressive accomplishments: sending a probe to the moon, several manned flights including a space walk; and next, a probe to orbit Mars.
But so much of their accomplishments depend on Russians. The Chinese manned spacecraft bears a striking resemblance to the Russian Soyuz—and Russians are heavily assisting the Chinese space [...]

I must admit, I didn’t know a thing about this. In passing, in this article, it mentions the planned 2016 retirement of the International Space Station.
Retirement? So soon? We’re just about to complete building it!
Big meeting on future space station
The thrust of the article is that some groups—including the European Space Agency and Roscosmos (the [...]

It is looking increasingly likely that former astronaut Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden will be Obama’s choice for NASA administrator. Bolden would be the first African-American to hold that post.
The more important question remains: what’s next for the space program?

Many questions
We’re facing a period where America’s next manned space program, Constellation, is “under review.” Will it [...]

John Holdren, science advisor to President Obama suggests that the U.S. might consider sending its astronauts into space aboard a Chinese vehicle, after the space shuttle is retired in 2010.
This depends on how the relationship between the U.S. and China develops…and on how much confidence the U.S. has in China’s manned space program.

New kid on [...]

In the old days, only the United States and the Soviet Union could get to the moon. Both sent probes there—starting with the Soviet spacecraft Luna 2, which crashed into the lunar surface in 1959. Of course, the ultimate accomplishment was the Apollo program and its 6 successful manned lunar landings.
New players
The United States is [...]