According to this story, the Chinese are going to launch a space station. They don't have a date, though:

China will launch Shenzhou VII with three astronauts in September 2008, after the Beijing Olympic Games...

After the launch of Shenzhou VII, a space station with 20 tons will be built...

Why wait until after the Olympics? What does this have to do with anything? Unless, of course, the purpose of the program is primarily for national prestige, as opposed to actually accomplishing something that's important.

And "after the launch of Shenzhou VII" could be anywhere from October, 2008 (unlikely) until...the end of time. But we'd better hurry--we're in a race!

This is not news. The Chinese have been talking about their space station plans in general terms for years. Every time somebody says that the Chinese are going to send people to the moon, it is useful to point out that China has _always_ said space station, not moon.

"with 20 tons" of what?

Astrosmith, it's a rough translation into english from a Chinese press release. They probably meant "weight 20 Tons", but they misspelled it and the spell-checker mis-guessed it.

This part gave me pause and a chuckle at the same time: "Different form Shenzhou VI, the astronauts of Shenzhou VII will step out of the module for a space walk, operation, tightening up screws, and installment of equipment, with the aim to get ready for the building of a space station."

I'm not sure I would feel safe travelling in a ship that needed the screws tightened after takeoff, would you? Have they been working with engineers at Harley Davidson and Orange County Choppers? Someone send them some LocTight! (the brand name contains eye tee ee, which is apparently a blacklisted word...)

The Long March probably has a nasty vibration environment. They'll just have to send up a lot of screwdrivers as part of the moon base equipment complement.

John, I figured it was "lost in translation" but it's still funny.

I doubt that even the Chinese plan things out "until the end of time." However, I do predict that they will land a man on the Moon before an alt.space company does on their own dime (as opposed to being a contractor for the government.)

The US should have sold them some PR help in the 90's.

Rand:

While there is no question that the Chinese space launch schedule and plans have enormous amounts to do with prestige, there's also the flip side.

That is to say, a failed launch would have enormous repercussions, both in terms of international image and in terms of programmatics, if it were to fail prior to the Olympics.

Chinese hosting of the Olympics is an enormous point of political pride, and nothing will be allowed to potentially or actually mar that operation. Therefore, even if the Chinese scientific community were four-square behind the idea of launching a space station (or anything else) just prior to the Olympics, it would almost certainly be vetoed. (Frankly, I can't think of anything that would justify it, short of a military or economic payload of a time-sensitive nature.)

As for "when," Luo Ge, deputy CNSA administrator during his visit to the US indicated that a Chinese space station of some sort is likely to be launched before 2020 (iirc, the date was something like 2014 or so)---but there's also some confusion about whether the Chinese differentiate between a space-lab and a space station.

Of course, that date might slip, but that's the current Chinese officially-promulgated plan.

If we're at all concerned about the Chinese threat to U.S. space dominance, then the news that they are planning a space station is great news. If we're lucky, they'll announce plans to build a space shuttle, too, and we won't have to worry about them until 2100 or so.

The doings of the Chinese space program, although a "potential" threat to US space dominance, worries me much less than does the rapid expansion and modernization of the Chinese military. Of course the two (space/military) are not mutually exclusive.

LO,

If they had NASA PAO, they could put out a press release suggesting ISS assembly complete by the 100th Anniversary of the Wright Brothers' First Flight. It gets lots of good press in 2000-2001, even if the ISS may never reach, what was then, assembly complete or even phase II complete by 2010.

Define 'space station' and 'space shuttle,' Img. Though we connect at least the latter with one specific design, they're both generic terms, and we can all probably agree that there are better ways of doing either one, than the current examples.

Of course, the design philosophy that China might use to ever pursue either one, remains to be seen, but I imagine they've learned something from the Salyut / Mir / Skylab / ISS experiences (though I'd expect their first station to have more in common with MOL than anything else)...

Define 'space station' and 'space shuttle'

I was being snarky of course, but by "space station" I mean (and assume they do, too) something like Mir or Salyut, or as you say, the Manned Orbiting Laboratory.

By "space shuttle" I mean something just like our Shuttle. After all, the Soviets made a near-copy of our design, so I wouldn't be surprised to see China do the same thing.

I don't see them doing anything innovative or constituting a breakthrough, such as a large, rotating space station or a single-stage-to-orbit reusable vehicle.

The engine test success is so exciting because, Chinese experts say, it may finally prompt the government to agree to PAY for developing the rest of the rocket. And that could take up to ten years. As far as I can tell (or have been told), they aren't even clearing brush to prepare to pour concrete to START building the launch pad, a process that can take several years alone.