Namibia, along with European Space Agency, Argentina and Pakistan, cooperated with China in monitoring and communicating with its spacecraft which successfully returned from its lunar mission this week. China has a space tracking station in Swakopmund in the Erongo Region, which has been in operation since 2000. The Swakopmund station was one of the many used to monitor and communicate with the Chinese space shuttle that returned this week. After the successful mission that returned with moon rooks, China has "encourage more scientists around the world to participate to obtain more scientific results," from space. Last year, the ambassador of China to Namibia said the space science cooperation between the two countries cannot be compared to relations with any other African country. The existence of the Swakopmund space station, he said, also demonstrates the promotion of the peaceful use of space by Namibia and China. China is preparing for future missions that could set the stage for an eventual lunar base to host human explorers, a top space programme Chinese official said yesterday.