A New Space Race?
China's first astronaut carried the hopes of his nation into orbit with him Wednesday, promising to do a good job and telling his family far below that the view from space was "extremely splendid." Read the full story here....
Matt's Chat
This is great news for China. And like my collegue, I believe it is a call to return to real exploration of space. I suspect that the Chinese will not take their eye off the ball. There are a great many "firsts" yet to be achieved in space, and I expect China will want to take a crack at a few of them.
Mark's Remarks
I believe this should serve as a clarion call for us to get back into the space exploration business, to think beyond the current shuttle and to come up with new ideas. Now that the Chinese, with their vast resources, have entered the fray, we now have someone to push us again. We need to get out there and be the first. Do we really want at best an Ambivalent Nation with stations on the moon, Mars, before we get there? We have seen the human rights abuses in China, and the continued smothering of democracy, do we really want that type of govt. to have control of space? I do not think so. We must recapture the drive of the space race. It will push our technology forward, and will push us to new discoveries and advancements for the benefit of all.
