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Reuters

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.
The US space agency has been banned by Congress since 2011 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 400 km above Earth, but Bolden says working with China will be necessary in the future.
READ MORE: China says improved space docking technology will help future missions
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 programme will go to whoever will fly their people,” Bolden said.
His comments were echoed by China.
“We certainly hope that this temporary timeframe can be shortened,” said Xu Dazhe, administrator of the China National Space Agency. “China has no difficulties in our cooperation policies with other agencies.”
China is the only other country besides the United States and Russia that have flown people in orbit. 
In addition to developing its own space station - so far at the prototype stage - China has flown a series of robotic spacecraft to the moon. 

The last probe included a lander that touched down in December 2013.
READ MORE: As Nasa's New Horizons reaches Pluto, Chinese space scientists complain of lack of funding and support
Xu later told reporters China planned to launch a lunar sample return mission in 2017 and was looking for partners for a 2019 robotic excursion to the far side of the moon.
Nasa is working on a heavy-lift rocket and capsule that can carry astronauts to the moon and eventually to Mars.
Collaborations with China could begin with very straightforward projects, such as deciding on a common system for docking spaceships, European Space Agency Director General Johann-Dietrich Woerner told reporters.
“What we have to do is to try not to be competitive. We should work together to tackle all different types of challenges in a common project,” Woerner said. 


Lost in space? Nasa chief urges US to work with China on future manned space missions or risk getting left behind

Pictures from the various Apollo missions are shown in this combination photograph. They are among over 12,000 photos from Nasa's archives recently aggregated on the Project Apollo Archive Flickr account. Photo: Reuters

Nasa chief Charles Bolden says a ban on the space agency working with China is counterproductive. Photo: SCMP Pictures

A Chinese lunar rover, Jade Rabbit, pictured on the surface of the moon in 2013. Photo: AP

China’s latest manned space mission blasts off

The Shenzhou 10 spacecraft  blasts off from the launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in Jiuquan, Gansu province, on Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese astronauts (L-R) Wang Yaping, Zhang Xiaoguang and mission commander Nie Haisheng wave to onlookers as they prepare to board the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu on June 11, 2013. Photo: AFP

President Xi Jinping (right) greets the three astronauts before the launch on Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua 

Gleam me up, Scotty: Chinese space station will rely on LEDs for all light

The Tiangong-1 (Sky Palace) orbiter, which is a component of China's plans for a space station, was launched in 2011. 

The Tiangong-1 (Sky Palace) orbiter, which is a component of China's plans for a space station, was launched in 2011. Photo: AFP

China shuts down space supercomputer damaged by shockwaves of deadly Tianjin blasts

China's Tianhe-1 supercomputer weighs 150 tonnes and covers an area of 1,000 square metres. Photo: Xinhua

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