Why won't China join the International Space Station?

[Zvezdichko]

I've ever wondered about this.

Looks like next month they will launch their own mini-station called Tiangong-1.

I Wonder why China hasn't been invited into the ISS project.

[Winner]

The US won't let it.

[Bynaus]

Not for lack of want, but because the US deny them access (technology transfer issues).

[Zvezdichko]

Weird. I thought that China doesn't want to join the ISS because they want to have their own, Chinese projects.

[Garrison]

I suspect neither the US nor the Chinese want it. The Chinese want to develop their own capabilities and the US doesn't want to give them the helping hand with that which involvement in the ISS would bring.

[Winner]

Actually it seems China is interested, but the US is blocking any Chinese participation in the project.

China has obviously a lot to gain - ISS is probably far more advanced a station than what China is planning to build. In essence, China needs experience that the Soviets/Russians gained on Mir and the Americans on Skylab and the Shuttle flights. ISS participation would speed up the process of gaining it, and the Chinese would surely get some important technological know-how. The US won't have that.

[Damburger]

A while ago, there was talk of the US abandoning the ISS, and the Russians said they would undock their modules and reassemble them as 'Mir 2'. That project would almost certainly allow the Chinese join. A second ISS might end up, ironically, excluding the US.

[Commodore]

We'll end up buying one from Bigelow around 2015 for a tiny fraction of the price.

The Chinese won't get much from the Russian modules that the Russians haven't already given them, or the Chinese have already hacked.

[Damburger]

We'll end up buying one from Bigelow around 2015 for a tiny fraction of the price.

The Chinese won't get much from the Russian modules that the Russians haven't already given them, or the Chinese have already hacked.

No, I meant a space station made from Russian and Chinese modules docked together. What the Chinese would gain from this is experience in keeping people alive, healthy and working in space over long periods, which is not trivial.

As for Bigelow - yeah, big inflatable modules are nice. So what? If the US isn't going to be investing in space stations, having better modules on offer isn't going to change anything.

[John Jaksich]

The relations between the Chinese govt and the U.S. and some in the West is a very complicated issue and contradictory in a lot of ways. The Chinese have become a large trading partner with West --but there are issues regarding human rights and other problems:

Among some of the issues is the stance the U.S. has towards Taiwan, technology issues
(according to what I have read--there are many software developers in the U.S. who are accusatory towards Chinese hackers for piracy), there is something akin to a Cold War stance between the West and China.

[Damburger]

Easing off on the politics, I would personally be pleased to see another international partner add some modules to the ISS (assuming that doesn't raise insurmountable technical issues, and I can't see why it would).

I've slowly become a fan of the ISS over the years; it gives the opportunity for incremental manned spaceflight developments, and allows smaller contributors to achieve more in human spaceflight than they would by going alone. And yes, it was good for the US as well. Space Station Freedom was going the way of the SSC when the ISS was conceived - and with the problems towards the end of the Shuttles life it is quite clear how valuable it was for NASA to have international partners (specially Russia, but Europe and Japan have with their modules and cargo vessels helped maintain the science)

[The Jim]

Easing off on the politics, I would personally be pleased to see another international partner add some modules to the ISS (assuming that doesn't raise insurmountable technical issues, and I can't see why it would).

Lack of additional power and life support

[Damburger]

Lack of additional power and life support

Russian components of the ISS have their own solar panels, and seeing as they were in place and functioning before the first truss parts arrive, this would indicate they provide enough power. Also, I thought multiple modules could provide life support.

Seeing as China is designing towards their own, functional space station, surely that means if their modules were adapted for use with the ISS they would still be able to provide their own power and life support?