NASA Administrator Charles Bolden led a delegation to China earlier this month at the invitation of the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSE). While no specific proposals for cooperation were agreed to, Bolden has stated that the trip led to increased understanding of China’s human spaceflight capabilities.
Meanwhile, China space program officials announced that their new lunar orbiter, Chang’E-2, has entered into a 100 kilometer x 15 kilometer orbit. In doing so, the probe has begun to image the Moon’s Bay of Rainbows.
Also known as Sinus Iridum, that area is being considered as a landing site for the soft landing of Chang’E-3 – the next step in China’s lunar exploration program.
After taking photos of Sinus Iridum, Chang’E-2 will go back to the 100 kilometer x 100 kilometer orbit, where it will continue to explore the lunar surface.
Also this week, China formally launched its manned space station program, aiming to build a “relatively large” orbiting station around 2020.
As a precursor step, China plans to conduct its first space docking to gain experience in building a space station. That step is on the calendar for next year when two unmanned spacecraft, Tiangong I and Shenzhou VIII, are to be launched.
By LD/CSE