Washington, DC [US], Highlighting China's progress toward setting up an international lunar research station, US Space Command Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting on Wednesday emphasized that whatever the Chinese do in space , are not very transparent in that, further hope that this will not happen. Military component in it. Addressing a digital press briefing on Wednesday, Commander Whiting said the US would welcome more transparency from China. Responding to a question about the US's assessment of China's progress toward establishing an international lunar research station and whether they see military applications for that project, Whiting also said China's ambitions also appear to be exploratory. . "Obviously, we've seen announcements of China's ambitions to go to the Moon and they appear to be exploratory and scientific on the surface, but the Chinese have not been very transparent in what they do in space, and so we hope that's not the case. There will be a military component to it, but we would certainly welcome more transparency, he said, responding to another question on speculation about Russia using nuclear weapons in space, perhaps as an anti-satellite weapon. Whiting said Russia is a signatory to the Outer Space Treaty, like the United States and most of the international community, and that treaty was signed in 1967, prohibiting the placement of nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction in orbit. prohibits formally calls on Member States to support the Prohibition of Outer Space Treaty against nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction in orbit, and we look forward to its passage in the Security Council." Additionally, the commander of U.S. Space Command emphasized China's challenges with his Japanese and Korean counterparts. He highlighted that he has visited the Japanese Self-Defense Forces Space Operations Group that he established, "However, their focus on space domain awareness to keep an eye on the threats in space that we see – and many of them emanating from China – has allowed us to develop better space domain awareness capabilities." Whiting expressed excitement for the Japanese to bring onboard their deep space radar capability, which they have been working on for several years and the US is partnering with. He Said, "When it achieves initial operational capability, we hope it will give both our countries a better understanding of what China is doing in space." The 18-crewed spaceship is scheduled to launch tonight at 8:59 p.m.Shenzhou-18 is the 32nd flight mission of China's manned space program, and during Thursday's (Beijing time) launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced on Wednesday, Xinhua reported. The third is a manned mission. The application and development phase of China's space station According to Xinhua report, the crew will remain in orbit for about six months and are scheduled to return to the Dongfeng landing site in northern China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region at the end of October this year.