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China wants the world to use its biggest space station yet

It's time to unite. In space.

Jennifer Bisset Former Senior Editor / Culture
Jennifer Bisset was a senior editor for CNET. She covered film and TV news and reviews. The movie that inspired her to want a career in film is Lost in Translation. She won Best New Journalist in 2019 at the Australian IT Journalism Awards.
Expertise Film and TV Credentials
  • Best New Journalist 2019 Australian IT Journalism Awards
Jennifer Bisset
Xinhua News Agency

This is how to be a team player.

China has invited other countries in the United Nations to use its China Space Station (CSS), expected to be launched in 2019 and up and running by 2022.

Countries in the United Nations could use China's biggest space station yet for conducting various experiments, according to the UN's release on May 28, after they submit an application.

"CSS belongs not only to China, but also to the world," said Shi Zhongjun, China's ambassador to the UN and other international organizations at a ceremony announcing the initiative in Vienna on Monday. "All countries, regardless of their size and level of development, can participate in the cooperation on an equal footing."

The increased opportunities for countries interested in space tech are part of an agreement between the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and China's Manned Space Agency, signed in 2016

In less successful news, China recently saw its out-of-control space station called Tiangong-1 or "Heavenly Palace" in its English translation re-enter our atmosphere in April and break apart, after the China National Space Administration lost command of it in 2016.