Article

2011-07-16 China-Japan-Koreas

China's space program shoots for moon, Mars, Venus

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Posted by Fred 2011-07-16 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11132 views ] Top
File under: Commies

#1 Not that they might not do it, but the Chinese and Russian are always proclaiming great space plans that are never followed through until the next time they make a different announcement.

Posted by rjschwarz 2011-07-16 09:25|| 2011-07-16 09:25|| Front Page Top

#2 rjschwarz, can you tell we who launched the first (artificial) satellite, put the first man in space? Who has space station, now. You see, the thing about autocratic, nationalist regimes is that---occasionally---they pursue long national interest.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2011-07-16 10:18|| 2011-07-16 10:18|| Front Page Top

#3 ..you know how many American billions [much of which disappeared] went into propping up the Russian space program in the 90s? Had that not happen the last shuttle would have been turning out the lights as they departed. To turn around a phrase from the Right Stuff - No bucks, no Buck Rodgers.

Posted by Procopius2k 2011-07-16 10:42|| 2011-07-16 10:42|| Front Page Top

#4 Our long term interests in space will be much better served by private entrepreneurs who can respond to the market or go bankrupt when they don't than by an ossifying bureaucracy that can no longer do what it could 50 years ago.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2011-07-16 12:51|| 2011-07-16 12:51|| Front Page Top

#5 well, it's nice that their space program is actually focusing on things like, sayyyyy SPACE, rather than "reaching out to the Muslim world"

Posted by Frank G 2011-07-16 13:08|| 2011-07-16 13:08|| Front Page Top

#6 We have ceded much of our manufacturing to China. We borrow money so we can buy stuff from China. They are getting wealthier and wealthier and we are getting broker and broker and in debt to China. No wonder we are making our last venture into space. We will have to rent from the Russians, rely on the Chinese, or private business. Our space program has become a feel-good program to build muslim self-esteem. Our government has spent us into economic chaos.

Posted by JohnQC 2011-07-16 14:01|| 2011-07-16 14:01|| Front Page Top

#7 you know how many American billions [much of which disappeared] went into propping up the Russian space program in the 90s

The more fools you are.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2011-07-16 14:37|| 2011-07-16 14:37|| Front Page Top

#8 ..wasn't so much fools for providing the Russians the cash as much as continuing the program that had no functional justification but ego.

Posted by Procopius2k 2011-07-16 15:01|| 2011-07-16 15:01|| Front Page Top

#9 I see little commercial opportunities in space travel, save giving space taxi rides to wealthy dumbassess. It is an will be primarily a military zone to be controlled for a long time.

Posted by bigjim-CA 2011-07-16 16:01|| 2011-07-16 16:01|| Front Page Top

#10 Hey BigJim hows that job working out. I wondered when you would drop in. "Que Sera Sera the futures not ours to see". The futures one day at a time thank goodness. The future is in space. I'm a big H. G. Wells fan and Jules Vern. That day will come if we survive this day. We must reach for the stars.
To be everything we could be and never ending.

Posted by Dale 2011-07-16 17:06|| 2011-07-16 17:06|| Front Page Top

#11 g(r)omgoru, the Soviet Union has a lot of space history to be proud of. But in the last decade they have proclaimed Mars missions and any number of other schemes they had no money or will to follow up on. Same goes for China. Its nice to see them getting men up into space and all but claims of Mars and Venus are just propaganda for a domestic audience and a world with a short attention span.

Posted by rjschwarz 2011-07-16 19:59|| 2011-07-16 19:59|| Front Page Top

#12 I don't like this idea of poten long lead times between post-Shuttle US programs - too easy for ous Space Boyz-Gals to forget + lose vital skills.

I stil would like for NASA-JPL in to inquire about bringing the Soviet shuttles ENERGIA + BURAN back to CONUS, refurbish or rewire 'em, + then use them finally for the ISS, etc.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2011-07-16 20:57|| 2011-07-16 20:57|| Front Page Top

#13 The space program is a waste of money until we have a cheap means of propulsion. This is the equivalent of trying to discover the Indies, back in the day, using muscle-powered Mediterranean galleys. Lavish funding to check out the military possibilities when the Soviets were investigating that frontier made sense - it wouldn't have done to have them steal a march. My sense is that we'll have to pay careful attention to what the Chinese are doing - if it is militarily significant, we may have to gin up yet another moon-landing-style effort to prevent them from obtaining a military advantage.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2011-07-16 22:55|| 2011-07-16 22:55|| Front Page Top

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