d. c. keith is going to see you again. how significant of an achievement is this for chinese space program? well, up until now, only 2 nations. the u. s. in russia have really built large space stations in orbit . and now that china has joined the club, that is a singular accomplishment. so it's a big deal. and the interesting thing about this is that the international space station is been up there for 20 years. i helped design it in the 1990. so although it state of the art a lot of it space and technology has been around for a while, whereas china space station benefit for from, from some of that experience. but also it was designed, built in the 21st century. so he's got some capabilities that may allow it, as i mentioned in the earlier piece, to continue operating after the international space station has been retired. and is that what is going to happen? i don't think so. i actually think that the international space station will be extended. there's some plans now to actually attach something to the international sp

d. c. keith is going to see you again. how significant of an achievement is this for chinese space program? well, up until now only 2 nations. the u. s. in russia apparently built large space stations in orbit, and now that china has joined the club, that is a singular accomplishment. so it's a big deal. and the interesting thing about this is that the international space station is been up there for 20 years. i helped design it in the 1990. so although it state of the art, a lot of it's based and technology has been around for a while. whereas china space station benefit for from, from some of that experience. but also it was designed, built in the 21st century. so he's got some capabilities that they allow it. as i mentioned in the earlier piece to continue operating after the international space station has been retired. and is that what is going to happen? i don't think so actually think that the international space station will be extended. there are some plans now to actually attach something to the international spa