No Chinese Spacewalks Planned at Tiangong

The Chinese Tiangong-1 space lab is expected to be launched to low erath orbit in late 2010 or 2011 as a part of an expanding human space effort. A human-rated Shenzhou 9 spacecraft will be launched to the space lab following an unmanned Shenzhou 8 rendezvous and docking. But there will be no planned Chinese taikonaut spacewalks planned with the Tiangong-1 space lab and its crew, according to a report published by Space Daily.

This Blogger previously suggested a joint Chinese-Russian-US mission to the planned space lab that would have included a spacewalk in 2012. The Chinese will launch their fourth human-rated mission in 2011 with an anticipated crew of three. Many believe that the Chinese will attempt a human landing on the Moon by 2022.