As noted last week, the Chinese are talking about seriously ramping up their progress into space. But we can forget about a space race, at least to the moon:
Fresh from putting an astronaut into orbit, top Chinese space officials on Tuesday set out their new targets, including a space station within 10 years, but no man on the moon.
Instead, they're focusing on achieving some basic space milestones, stuff we did 30-40 years ago:
Top space official Hu Shixiang told a Hong Kong news conference that China wants to achieve three new goals in the coming decade: a space station, a space walk and docking technology.
Those sound like reasonable goals. Certainly nothing for us to be alarmed about.
Posted by Phil at November 4, 2003 09:59 AM | TrackBackNow, I'm not an engineer, and I can't pretend I'm even the least bit knowledgeable about the factors that go into landing on the moon, but one thing is clear to me. The ISS has proven how difficult and expensive it is to maintain and supply a space station in orbit. It makes much more sense to establish a base on the moon where you have at least SOME gravity, and with water and minerals in the ground on the moon, at least SOME option of sustainability. A space station is a BIG MISTAKE.
Posted by: Donny at November 5, 2003 05:33 PM