The Chinese are going to the International Space Station, sort of...

Credit: NanoRacks

For the first time, a Chinese experiment will be headed to the International Space Station, albeit through a commercial agreement with Houston-based NanoRacks LLC.

The agreement works around a law from the United States Congress that forbids NASA from working in any way with the Chinese. The fear is that China could potentially steal information and/or hardware and use it for their own purposes.

Because NanoRacks, not NASA, is dealing with the Chinese, who are paying $200,000, nobody is breaking the law.

Jeff Manber, who founded NanoRacks, agreed to take a DNA experiment to the ISS next year on board a SpaceX Dragon capsule. The experiment is lead by Professor Deng Yulin of the Beijing Institute of Technology.

According to NASA Watch, a NanoRacks source said the company worked to assure compliance with a 2011 spending bill Amendment which restricts formal NASA cooperation with the Chinese Space Program.

NanoRacks assures that the money flows from China to the U.S. and no hardware or technology flows to China, except the return of data and experiment samples. Manber said the deal is purely commercial and was negotiated with NASAs blessing.


Because of the law forbidding NASA to work with the Chinese in space, China isn't allowed to be part of the ISS program. NASA administrator Charles Bolden thinks the restrictions are too strict and NASA should at least be able to communicate with Chinese officials.



Since NanoRacks flies via the SpaceX Dragon capsule, it is unclear exactly when the Chinese experiment will fly. The Falcon 9 rocket, which carries the Dragon, is currently grounded till at least late September due to a mishap during the June 28, 2015 launch when the second stage over-pressurized causing a rapid unplanned disassembly.