spacetoday.net: News briefs: July 16

Posted: Wed, Jul 17, 2002, 7:28 AM ET (1128 GMT)

China plans to launch its first people into space in 2003 or 2004, according to a US Defense Department report. The report also said that Chinese long-term plans include a space station and, farther out, a reusable launch vehicle, both projects that Chinese officials have previously claimed are in the works. The report concluded that China's human spaceflight efforts will result in improved military space systems in the 2010-2020 period.
Australia and Russia have reached a compromise that clears regulatory hurdles to the development of a spaceport on Christmas Island. The agreement will allow Australian officials to inspect Russian cargo that arrives at the spaceport, but with Russian representatives present. Plans for the spaceport are moving forward despite reports that Russia plans to abandon the project in favor of launching Soyuz rockets from the European spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana.
Canadian scientists have found that the radiation environment outside the International Space Station is not as severe as expected, SPACE.com reported Tuesday. Astronauts performing spacewalks outside ISS are exposed to 54 milliSieverts of radiation a year, about three times the levels of radiation workers on Earth but at the low range of expectations for space exposure. Radiation levels are expected to increase in conjunction with the solar cycle.