China invites all UN members countries to cooperate on new Space Station

China announced that all United Nation member counties are welcome to cooperate with China to jointly utilize its future China Space Station (CSS).

“All countries, regardless of their size and level of development, can participate in the cooperation on an equal footing,” he said. Interested public and private organizations, including institutes, academies, universities and private enterprises with scientific orientations, can identify their appropriate models of cooperation on board CSS, may it be the growth of a space plant, or will even accommodation of an astronaut, said the ambassador.

CSS is expected to be launched by 2019, and complete and brought into operation by 2022. Consisting of one core module and two experiment modules, the CSS will have the capacity to accommodate up to three astronauts at the same time.