China may become ISS, ESA space station partner

New Delhi, June 1 (ANI): European Space Agency (ESA) director -general Jean-Jacques Dordain said on Monday that there is a good chance of China being included in the International Space Station (ISS) partnership.

According to the China Daily, he made the remarks on Monday during the ongoing Global Lunar Conference in Beijing, which is organized by the International Astronautical Federation and the Chinese Society of Astronautics.

Dordain said international cooperation on space exploration has been progressing slowly. To achieve more, the partnership needs to be expanded, he said.

The ISS is jointly built and run by the United States, Russia, ESA's 11 member countries, Canada, Japan and Brazil. China is excluded from the ISS.

But with growing power based on its independent technological development, China is being invited to more international cooperatives in space exploration in recent years.

Chen Qiufa, China's Vice-Minister of Industry and Information Technology, and in charge of the lunar exploration mission, said at the conference that China is willing to join international cooperatives, and share technologies and research results with other countries, while independently developing its own technologies. (ANI)