ESA Cancels Visit to China Tiangong Space Station; Director Says ISS is More Important

This decision is quite a surprise since ESA has a great relationship with the Asian country.

In 2017, two ESA astronauts, Matthias Maurer and Samantha Cristoforetti participated in a nine-day joint training exercise with Chinese astronauts in the coastal city of Yantai.

In 2021, ESA even said that its main goal is to establish long-term cooperation with China, as the South China Morning Post reported.

However, this finally changed after ESA announced its decision.

ESA Cancels Visit to China Tiangong Space Station

According to SpaceNews' latest report, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher announced their decision not to visit the Tiangong Space Station.

Based on his statements, they are more committed to the International Space Station.

"We are very busy supporting and ensuring our commitments and activities on the International Space Station where we have a number of international partners working together," explained Aschbacher.

He added that they have no budget or political intention to engage in a second space station, specifically the Chinese orbiting laboratory.

China Already Expected ESA's Decision

A Beijing-based space scientist, who asked not to be named for his privacy, said that the announcement of ESA is unfortunate news.

But, the researcher said that it wasn't surprising, especially since COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict affected China's cooperation with Europe.

On the other hand, Cristoforetti said they made efforts to make the Tiangong Space visit a reality.

However, they are having issues continuing their plan, which led to the sudden cancellation.

You can click here to learn more about ESA's China space station visit cancellation.

In 2022, ESA was conducting efforts to enhance Europe's space industry.

These include the space agency's plan to explore wireless gathering of Earth's solar power.

We also reported that ESA planned a follow-up space mission on NASA DART's epic asteroid impact.

For more news updates about ESA and its upcoming space activities, keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.