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Illustration showing Tiangong 1 (left) visited by Shenzhou 8 (right)
Thursday 29th September 2011 saw the Chinese Space Agency (CNSA) take another step along the road to achieving their ambition of creating a mini orbiting space station.

The 19,000 pound Tiangong 1 (translation Heavenly Palace) module was successfully launched aboard a Long March 2F rocket, witnessed by many leading Chinese politicians and dignitaries, including President Hu Jintao, watching from the Beijing control centre.

The Tiangong 1 spacecraft will steadily make its way up to maintain an eventual orbit of approximately 220 miles (354km), where it will wait to be joined by an unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft sometime in November. The two vessels will then take part in China’s first space docking manoeuvre, forming a mini-space station some 60 feet long for 12 days,  before the Shenzhou module returns to Earth.

Further missions will visit Tiangong 1 next year, potentially carrying Chinese astronauts on board as China seeks to consolidate its place in the future of space exploration. The very best of luck to them.    

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Tiangong 1 Space capsule CNSA
Just as the thirty year era of the USA Space Shuttle program is about to come to an end, China has shipped its Tiangong 1 mini space station to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, where it will be prepared for launch in the next three months.

This module weighing in at 9,500 kgs and being just 9 metres long is about half the size of the first space station ever to go into orbit, Salyut 1, sent by the Russians in 1971. Tiangong, which in Chinese means ‘heavenly palace’ is equipped with a docking port, navigation/communications instruments, as well as a pressurized cabin for future visitors.  

According to the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA), launch should take place by the end of September this year on a Long March 2F rocket, with plans to test the docking system a few weeks later using an unmanned Shenzhou 8 vehicle. All being well, two more manned Shenzhou flights to the mini space station should follow in 2012. 

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China's Shenzhou 7 rocket
With USA space shuttles going into retirement next year 2011, this leaves Russia as the only country currently capable of delivering crews to the International Space Station via their Soyuz capsules. Although the Russians have proven to be very reliable and thus far have a good safety record, this places a huge workload on their shoulders, so is it not always a good idea to have a Plan B just in case?

According to Russian space officials, Chinese spaceships meet all safety requirements and could fly to the ISS.

"I think Chinese spaceships would play an important role as a backup for the Russian vessels Soyuz and Progress in case of some unforeseen situations," said Anatoli Perminov, head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, recently. 

Perminov also repeated an earlier claim that five space agencies currently involved in running the ISS had invited China to become involved and were awaiting a reply on this proposal.

NASA has however issued a statement saying that China has not been formally asked to join the 15-nation program, but that ‘discussions were taking place about joint space efforts’.

Could it not be time to put aside the old rivalries and distrust and to globalize space research and travel?  
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