Two Chinese astronauts boarded the Tiangong 2 space laboratory on Tuesday after their spacecraft docked successfully during a two-hour automated procedure.
This latest step in the Chinese space program is a technological triumph for Beijing but a disappointment for those who believe that space stations are the ideal opportunity for nations to work together for the common good.
The Chinese are not part of the International Space Station, an inspiring multinational project in which the US and Russia have played a prominent role along with the Europeans and Japanese. It is not as if they did not wish to be. They repeatedly requested they be given the chance to participate. But the US Congress put a formal block on any such cooperation. Legislators were concerned that Chinese involvement would result in the theft of technology that could be used by Beijing’s military. The Chinese have almost certainly been busy breaking into US data systems to steal US commercial and intelligence secrets.
But similar concerns were expressed by Congressmen when Moscow was initially proposed as a partner. Yet the Russians became part of the ISS project and it is extremely fortunate they did. After the 2003 Challenger Space Shuttle disaster and since the shuttle program ended five years ago, the Russians have been the sole providers of links to and from the ISS.
Now maybe it could be argued that Washington decided there had to be a backup supply system for the space station and, therefore, put up with the risks that Russia would steal US technology secrets in the course of its involvement in the program. That being the case, it has to be wondered why the same risk could not also be taken with the inclusion of the Chinese. After all, the loudest ISS message that Washington broadcasts is that it is a unique opportunity for peaceful cooperation amongst all the countries of the world.
China’s ISS exclusion inevitably spurred it on to develop its rival space station and the accompanying space exploration program. Moscow sold Beijing a great deal of its Soyuz technology and gave initial support to China’s efforts. For instance, Beijing’s first but unsuccessful Mars mission was launched from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in 2011.
Ordinary Chinese are every bit as proud of their country’s space program and unfazed by its high cost, as have been Americans at the achievements of NASA. It is, however, a great pity that every nation that wishes to is not working together in the complex, expensive and dangerous enterprise of space exploration. If Washington can endure the danger of Russian scientists filching their technology why can it not also do so with the Chinese. And who is to say that US technicians have not benefited from Russian expertise?
There is a great deal of humbug here. Perhaps the most significant nonsense is the way in which Capitol Hill protests that US secrets will be stolen by the Chinese. In the West much publicity is given to the apparently state-sponsored activities of Russian and Chinese hackers. This would seem to suggest that Western governments would never dream of breaking into Russian and Chinese systems and stealing any of their secrets. But, as Edward Snowden revealed, the Americans were not averse to listening to the phone calls of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. If they could do that to an ally, what might they do to anyone else?
