China will train Venezuelans as astronauts to join Beijing’s moon project, says visiting President Nicolas Maduro

Chinese and Venezuelan presidents meet for the first time in five years, agreeing to boost collaboration in areas from oil and trade to space exploration

Maduro says a committee between two countries will work to ‘take the first Venezuelan man or woman to the moon on board a Chinese spacecraft’

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on September Wednesday where they agreed to deepen their collaboration on space projects, according to a joint statement by the two governments. Photo: Venezuelan Presidency / AFP

Published: 2:00pm, 15 Sep 2023Updated: 4:45pm, 15 Sep 2023

China will help Venezuela train astronauts and eventually send them to the moon, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said during his visit to China this week.

“Very soon, Venezuelan youth will come to prepare as astronauts here in Chinese schools,” Maduro told the closing event of the China-Venezuela High-Level Joint Commission in Beijing on Wednesday.

A committee on scientific, technological, industrial and aerospace cooperation between the two countries would work to “sooner rather than later take the first Venezuelan man or woman to the moon on board a Chinese spacecraft”, Maduro said.

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The announcement came as part of an upgraded, “all-weather strategic partnership” after Maduro and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met for the first time in five years and agreed to boost collaboration in areas ranging from oil and trade to space exploration.

In July, Venezuela became the first South American country to join the China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a megaproject aiming at building a permanent base near the moon’s south pole within the next decade.

As a partner of the ILRS project, which is often seen as parallel to the US-led Artemis Programme, Venezuela is expected to provide ground-based technological support such as spacecraft tracking and data relay during space missions, according to Chinese state broadcaster CGTN.

“Venezuela is going to the moon. Who would have thought it,” Maduro told Venezuelan audiences after a cooperation memorandum was signed between the two country’s space agencies in mid-July, according to a CGTN video.

China will train Venezuelans as astronauts to join Beijing’s moon project, says visiting President Nicolas Maduro

Chinese and Venezuelan presidents meet for the first time in five years, agreeing to boost collaboration in areas from oil and trade to space exploration Maduro says a committee between two countries will work to ‘take the first Venezuelan man or woman to the moon on board a Chinese spacecraft’