11 May 2017
At a panel discussion during the the Armstrong Space Symposium at the Ohio State University, the talk was centered on whether humans should venture next to the Moon or Mars, how to get there, and who will get there first. “I think there may be a confluence of events in the world today that will predicate another landing on the Moon, but it won’t be [by the United States],” Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden said. “I think it might be China.” Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt disagreed with that prediction, but he did agree that China has big ambitions in space. As to whether billionaire-funded companies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin will carry humans to space before any world governments do, former NASA administrator Michael Griffin asserted that commercial ventures “are not substitutes for national will…for a belief by our nation that we should be preeminent in space.”
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11 May 2017
Journalist Jessica Meyers has toured Hainan Island for the Los Angeles Times. She looked for traces of transformation of the island as a consequence of the newly opened Wenchang Satellite Launch Center .... and found many.  
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11 May 2017
An Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organisation (APSCO) delegation successfully conducted the Hosting Site Survey at the proposed Iranian site on 8-13 April 2017, as the follow up to one of the most important tasks in the Small Multi-Mission Satellite (SMMS) Project phase B. The visit was conducted by experts from the China Academy of Science (CAS). During the site survey, the progress and current status of the SMMS project was presented by the APSCO delegation.
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10 May 2017
Eight Chinese volunteers, split into two groups, will live in "Yuegong-1", (Lunar Palace 1) a simulated space "cabin" in Beijing for the next year, strengthening China's knowledge and technical know-how, and helping the country's scientists understand exactly what will be required for humans to remain on the moon in the medium and long terms.
The Lunar Palace 1 is a facility for conducting bio-regenerative life-support systems experiments, key to setting up a lunar base, in Beijing University for Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) in Beijing, capital of China, 10 May 2017. A ceremony was held in the BUAA on 10 May as 8 volunteers start a 365-day experiment in two groups in the Lunar Palace 1. A similar 105-day trial was carried out successfully in 2014.
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