Says Spaceflight Partners Need Trust

Trust and openness. That's what partners in spaceflight need... and something NASA's current relationship with China lacks.

So says NASA's administrator Michael Griffin, who wrapped up a five-day get-acquainted visit between top NASA officials and representatives of China's space program on Wednesday. In comments to the press, as reported in the New York Times, Griffin said the idea of a civilian agency like NASA working with a Chinese military-dominated space agency would place too many restrictions on the relationship for it to work.

"We have to have a great degree of trust. If not, there is a real danger in the mix," Griffin said. "If we’re going to fly together, we’re going to have to depend on each other."

China is cozying up to NASA in hopes of more cooperation between China and the US on its space programs... but Washington has consistently blocked those overtures, citing national security issues.

Griffin says his trip was enjoyable, and that his hosts couldn't have been nicer... but he doesn't see much chance of any near-term joint US-Chinese human spaceflight projects. The US, Russia and China are currently the only countries with human spaceflight capability.

Better cooperation between the three would certainly benefit all... but the current US administration is worried about missile technology proliferation. Still, Griffin did not discount a future partnership with China.

"We did discuss closer cooperation in our nations’ science programs," Griffin said. "We’re all very encouraged by those initial discussions."

In a perhaps telling turn of events, the NASA contingent had permission to -- but chose not to visit -- a launch facility in the Gobi where China launches its rockets. Griffin learned NASA's officials would see the launching pads, but not the buildings at facilities where the rockets are maintained and prepped for launch.

Griffin says those were off limits... which gave him little reason to make the trip.

"I am not a tourist; this is, in fact, my profession," Griffin said. "I have seen a lot of launch pads in my time and didn’t need to go that far to see another one."

Trust and openness, indeed...

FMI: www.nasa.gov