The United States should include China in its human space projects or face being left out of new ventures to send people beyond the International Space Station, NASA chief Charles Bolden said on Monday.
Since 2011, the U.S. space agency has been banned by Congress from collaborating with China, due to human rights issues and national security concerns.
China is not a member of the 15-nation partnership that owns and operates the station, a permanently staffed research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, but Bolden says working China will be necessary in the future.
During a heads of space agencies panel at the International Astronautical Congress, he said he believed the ban was temporary.
“The reason I think that where we are today is temporary is because of a practical statement that we will find ourselves on the outside looking in, because everybody … who has any hope of a human spaceflight program … will go to whoever will fly their people,” Bolden said.
His comments were echoed by China.
Copyright: Reuters