[FPSPACE] China's manned spaceflight tracking station

[Keith Gottschalk]

     One curiosity of China opening a manned spaceflight tracking & command station in Namibia: it is replicating 1960s procedures in 2001.   Surely it is both easily feasible, & in the long run far cheaper, for China to insert a TDRS system in GSO, with any backups needed.?  That would handle everything from monitoring & starting re-entry of manned spacecraft, through to continuous secured communications with all automated & manned spacecraft.

    Of course, anything that gets some space infrastructure into African countries is welcome.