Opinion | How the changing language in space reflects the geopolitical tensions on Earth

On one hand, English is beginning to overshadow Russian, with a US-led lunar programme and the emergence of private American space companies

On the other, Chinese is growing in prominence in space. And with new Beijing and Moscow cooperation, Chinese and Russian could be the working languages on the moon

Reading Time:3 minutes

A July 25 screen image of taikonauts (from left) Cai Xuzhe, Chen Dong and Liu Yang in the first module of China’s space station. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 1:30am, 1 Sep 2022Updated: 2:27am, 1 Sep 2022

In the Chinese space station Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace”, Chinese is the only language used for instructions. This was unimaginable back in 2011, when the US passed the Wolf Amendment to limit cooperation between agencies such as Nasa and Beijing or Chinese companies, effectively excluding China from participating in the International Space Station.

And it offers an interesting perspective on how China is affecting the international order and food for thought on geopolitical tensions.

Before China’s entry, Russia and the United States were the only two countries that had independently launched space stations. The former Cold War rivals had wanted to gain superiority in space technology.

It was a competition on many fronts: technology, ideology and language. Which language was being communicated back to Earth had a significant impact on the national pride of millions of people.

A pivotal moment came on July 17, 1975, when the Russians and Americans docked their spacecraft in orbit. With one handshake, the two mission commanders replaced a long, tense political relationship with cooperation.

From then on, there was growing collaboration between Russia and the US. They learned more about each other’s language and culture, and subsequently came together for the International Space Station project. This is a cooperative programme between Russia, the US, Europe, Canada and Japan, with Russian and English designated as the official languages.

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