China is soliciting international participation in its future manned space station in the form of foreign modules that would attach to the three-module core system, visits by foreign crew-transport vehicles for short stays and the involvement of non-Chinese researchers in placing experiments on the complex, the chief designer of China's manned space program said Oct. 12. But he declined to commit to an international orbital docking technology that would facilitate international participation in the Chinese facility. The Chinese orbital station, consisting of a core module and two experiment-carrying modules, could be expanded to a total of six modules if international partners wanted to invest in their own components, said Zhou jianping, chief designer of the China Manned Space Program at the China Manned Space Agency.
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