China’s Space Station Ban

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by visiting dashlane. com/primalspace. In November 1998, the first module of the
International Space Station was launched into orbit. Over the last two decades, it’s been the
home to hundreds of astronautsfrom 19 different countries. This enormous collaboration between different
nations shows just how much can be achievedwhen the world comes together. However, not every nation is allowed to take
part in the ISS program. China has never taken part in the program
and since 2011 – they were officially bannedfrom doing so. In this video, we’re going to look at the
history of unlikely space collaborations. We’re also going to look at why the US lost
trust in China’s space program and China’sfuture plans to make their own space station. In the midst of the Cold War, space was the
ultimate frontier between the United Statesand the Soviet Union. After political tensions fueled the advancements
in rocket technology, the space race eventuallycame to a conclusion when Apollo 11 successfully
landed on the Moon. As the political landscape of the Cold War
began to ease, a milestone was reached in1975 when the US and Soviets worked together
on the Apollo-Soyuz Project – a mission whichinvolved both nations docking their capsules
together in space. The mission began in Baikonur where two Cosmonauts
launched on the Soyuz 19 capsule. A few hours later, the Apollo capsule lifted
off from US soil – launching three astronautsinto space where it docked with the Soyuz
capsule. Three hours after docking, the first international
handshake in space took place through thehatch of the Soyuz capsule. This extraordinary moment signified a strong
shift in the space race and ushered in a newera of international collaboration. Fast forward 23 years and the largest space collaboration was about to begin -the International Space Station. Spearheaded by NASA, the space station involved
15 nations and 5 different space agencies. Besides the technical challenges of developing
and launching an entire space station, gettingall of these countries to work together required
an extreme amount of trust. At first, NASA were concerned that Russia
would use the opportunity to transfer advancedtechnology for their own military
use. But after the Columbia disaster grounded the Space Shuttle, NASA had no choice but to relyon Russia to transport astronauts to and from
the space station. Despite the worldwide collaboration required
to build the ISS, China was one of the largestcountries not invited to join the International
Space Station. At the time, the Chinese Space Administration
was only 5 years old and the rest of the nationsfelt that China was simply not ready to make
a meaningful contribution to the project. So China plowed forward with their own space
program – and in 2003, became the only nationother than the US and Russia to launch a human
into space. As progress continued on the ISS, China stated
their desire to join the ISS as a new member. However, legislation introduced by U. S. Congress
in 2011 eliminated the possibility of Chinajoining the ISS. In this legislation, a provision known as
the “Wolf Amendment” was passed to forbidNASA and U. S. companies from sharing technological
advancements with the Chinese government. Although this may seem like a harsh decision, America’s distrust in China was not completely unfounded. In 2007, China deployed an anti-satellite
weapon to destroy one of its own weather satellites. This received worldwide criticism for the
dangerous amounts of space debris it caused. A decade later, two Chinese nationals were
charged by the U. S. Department of Justicefor allegedly hacking information from NASA’s
Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Despite being banned from the ISS, China continues
to rapidly advance their space program. In 2019, China became the first nation ever to successfully land a spacecrafton the far side of the Moon. In 2011, they launched a space station known
as Tiangong 1, which was soon followed in2016 by Tiangong 2. The final form of the Chinese Space Station
will be one-fifth the size of the ISS andis expected to be completed by 2023. While the United States remains against the
idea of a Chinese collaboration, other spaceagencies are not so keen to avoid partnership. The European Space Agency have been clear
about their willingness to let China intothe ISS – and countries such as Italy have
even agreed to collaborate with China on futuremanned-space flight missions. Whether they were rightfully excluded from
the ISS or not, China has been successfulin developing their own space program. Over the next few decades, they are poised to become an even bigger player within the space community. But at the end of the day, space exploration
should bring nations together. Our greatest achievements in space come when
large teams of people work together to achievea shared goal. Thanks to Dashlane for supporting this episode
of Primal Space. Dashlane is the best way to manage and remember
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can try it for free on your first device byvisiting dashlane. com/primalspace. Thank you very much for watching and I’ll
see you in the next video.