Bush Administration Nixed NASA's U.S.-China Cooperation Idea

NASA tried and failed to obtain Bush administration approval of an overture to China for a cooperative U.S.-China space mission, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin tells Aviation Week & Space Technology.

The White House believes that a higher level of cooperation is too great a reward to China for its human rights and arms-trafficking violations of international law.

But the new Obama administration may resurrect the idea. The transition team of President-elect Barack Obama asked the agency for a detailed breakdown of its contacts with China and overall Asia-Pacific-region cooperative concepts in general.

The mission concept suggested by NASA was largely devoted to space science, but also involved flight operations on the space shuttle and International Space Station (ISS). It would not have involved the launch of a Chinese astronaut, however.

The concept included the large Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) that was flown on a shuttle mission 10 years ago as a solo payload and is likely to be launched for installation to the ISS on what could be the space shuttle's final mission in late 2010 or early 2011.

NASA's proposal was to allow the cooperation of Chinese scientists in the mission - since the original AMS carries nearly 1,900 kg. (4,188 lb.) of specialized magnets made in China by Chinese aerospace companies. "We ran that up the flagpole to the administration," Griffin says.