China's space station to carry out international payload experiments

BEIJING -- Experiments of the first batch of international payloads selected under cooperation between China and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) will soon take place on the Tiangong space station, the China Manned Space Agency said on Friday.

An agency spokesperson, Lin Xiqiang, made the remarks at a press conference. He added that ten space application projects, jointly implemented with the European Space Agency (ESA), are in steady progress.

"We have conducted various exchanges and cooperation with space agencies of many countries and regions as well as international organizations involving spacecraft technology, space science experiments, and astronaut selection and training," said Lin.

Since the implementation of its manned space program, China has sent people overseas to participate in weightless aircraft training, cave training and the Mars500 study. It has also led several large international cooperation projects, including astronauts' sea survival training and research on cardiovascular function in weightlessness.

Ye Guangfu, a member of Shenzhou-13 crew, was the first taikonaut to complete cave training through international cooperation.

"China has so far signed cooperation framework agreements with the UNOOSA, ESA and space agencies of Russia, France, Germany, Italy and Pakistan," said Lin, highlighting that some have been successfully implemented, and some space station-related cooperation projects are under preparation.

"We welcome astronauts from other countries to carry out experiments on the Chinese space station," Lin added.

Preparations for foreign astronaut training are proceeding as planned.