Chinese Space Station

Reports from China say the country has completed building the first component of its first space station, and the module will be launched into orbit sometime in the first half of next year. If all goes well, China plans to send its first astronauts-- "taikonauts"-- to the station in 2012.

The current plan is for China to add two more modules to the station, completing it by 2022, and operating it for three years thereafter. That would take us to 2025. In recent years, there have been reports that China intends to land humans on the Moon relatively soon. The accuracy and reliability of those reports have been questioned by some China scholars, but successfully building and operating a space station for over a decade would seem to put China in a position to attempt lunar trips sometime before 2030 if it decides to do so.