Dossiers Space / Espace Back to previous selection / Retour à la sélection précédente China’s Space Station Plans Laid Out at Astronautical Congress 14 October 2015 EIRNS—In a special presentation at the International Astronautical Congress yesterday, the Chief Designer of the China Manned Space Agency, Zhou Jianping, outlined plans for China’s space station, as the preparatory step for long-duration space flight. There are two main purposes for the station, which will see the first, core module launched in 2018, he said. The first is to learn how to build and operate a station, which requires the launch of each of the three modules, with manned missions to develop the skills needed to assemble the components in orbit. The second purpose of the station is to operate a national space laboratory for science and technology experiments. Zhou outlined the full array of scientific areas for study, including biology and medicine, materials processing, engineering and technology, and an astronomical telescope which will be deployed from the station. Next year, the second, small Tiangong module will be launched, which will be visited by one Shenzhou crew. Their task will be to test the rendezvous and docking of a new cargo craft with the Tiangong, and test the transfer of propellant from the cargo ship to the Tiangong, which capability will be needed for the space station. As previously announced, the Chinese station will be composed of three modules, but there is room for three more, which can be contributed by international partners. The initial crew will be three, which can be expanded to six. Zhou reported that China is discussing with the UN, which has a number of space organizations, involving developing countries in the station activites. There will undoubtedly be bilateral discussions, as well. In response to a question about manned missions to the Moon, Zhou said that the government has agreed to China’s three-step manned program so far, which goes as far as the space station, but "the Moon should be the new target."