NASA
administrator Michael Griffin said Tuesday that he will visit China and open up
a dialogue with the country's national space agency.
"The
Chinese have offered an opportunity for me to visit with them and discuss the
beginnings of a cooperation between us...in space," Griffin told a Senate subcommittee
on science and space, during a Tuesday hearing in Washington, D.C. "The President
has advised me to accept that decision, I'm looking forward to it."
Top
officials with the China National Space Administration (CNSA) invited Griffin to
their country earlier this month. NASA officials said then that U.S. space
agency chief was considering the invite, which came from CNSA vice administrator Luo Ge.
While a formal
date for the trip has yet to be disclosed, NASA officials have said it could occur this
fall.
Griffin's
Tuesday remarks came after an informal visit to NASA's Washington, D.C.
headquarters by Chinese space agency officials this month, as well as the
recent U.S. visit
by Chinese President Hu Jintao. Hu met with U.S. President George W. Bush
during that visit.
NASA also
invited CNSA officials to an invite-only Exploration Strategy Workshop held
Washington, D.C. this week. The workshop ends Friday.
"China is,
as we are, a great nation," Griffin said Tuesday. "They are not consonant with
us on many things that we would like them to be more closely aligned, and some
of those things were discussed."
Griffin added
that the U.S. needs both good partners and competitors in space exploration,
and sometimes they can be wrapped in the same entity.
"I think
the United States has always benefited from discussions," Griffin said of China's
invitation. "I do not see how it can hurt us."
China is
the third country to launch astronauts into space following Russia and the U.S.
The nation's first manned spaceflight, Shenzhou
5, launched in October 2003 with Chinese astronaut Yang
Liwei aboard. A subsequent two-person launch shot into space in October
2005 during the country's Shenzhou
6 mission.
Shenzhou
7, which is expected to feature China's first spacewalk, is currently
slated to launch three
astronauts into orbit by 2008.
"I would
say that 20 years ago, who would have imagined that one of our best friends on
the space station today is Russia," Griffin said, referring to the Cold War
between the U.S. and then Soviet Union. "It's in our best interests to behave
as if cooperation is always a possible thing, and I believe that's what we're
doing."
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