IPFS News Link • Space Travel and Exploration
China takes first step towards space station
• www.ft.comState media on Tuesday reported that China would next week launch an unmanned craft from the Chinese western Gobi desert that will be used for practising operations at a future space station. The launch comes as the US is cutting funding for its space programme, having retired its space shuttle fleet after a last flight of the Atlantis in July.
Although space experts warn of huge technological challenges ahead for the country’s space station plans, the programme would eventually make China the world’s only nation with a space station. The China Manned Space Engineering Office has said it plans to complete the space station in 2020, just as the International Space Station is scheduled to retire.