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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| China shelves plan for astronauts on moon |
| 2004-05-18 |
| Plan for manned space station to move forward China plans to build its own manned space station by around 2020 but has shelved plans to put a man on the moon for financial reasons, state media quoted the chief designer of the nation’s space program as saying. A whiff of sanity or just the stark realization that $250 BILLION worth of bad bank debt has painted them into a rather constrained financial corner? Wang Yongzhi, godfather of the mission that completed its first manned flight successfully last year, said the permanent station would take about 15 years to complete, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing a Beijing newspaper. "China will also conduct a lunar orbiting program," Wang told a gathering of high school students on Sunday, the Beijing News reported. But contrary to previously announced plans, the 72-year-old said the lunar probe would not land a man on the moon. China rocketed ex-fighter pilot Yang Liwei into orbit around Earth in October, becoming only the third nation in space after the former Soviet Union and the United States and fuelling bigger dreams of galactic exploration. Officials of the highly secretive program have made vague reference to a future space station but the timeline projected by Wang was believed to be the most specific to date. China has welcomed international cooperation in its space station. I don’t see where there’s much prestige to be gained from any participation with China’s Spam-in-a-can aerospace technology. It was unclear if plans to forge ahead on its own were influenced by recent signs the United States might not want China to join the 16-nation, $95 billion International Space Station. So long as China maintains it’s aggressive posture in Asia, it should rightfully be shut out from gaining any expertise in aerospace technology at our’s or anyone else’s expense. Chinese space officials were "shocked" the United States had not done more to welcome them into the small community of space-faring nations, a leading U.S. expert said last month after a trip to China. Quite fitting considering how America’s space program is civilian. The United States harbors concerns that the army-run Chinese program could some day pose a threat to U.S. dominance in military satellite communications. In light of China’s overt aggression in Tibet and constant saber-rattling over Taiwan such concerns are not just predictable but obligatory. |
| Posted by:Zenster |
| #3 Is this the same country that just now put a man in orbit with a paid for Soviet Design which was really a GE design but I degress. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-05-18 6:43:51 PM |
| #2 I never had confidence they'd get to the moon according to their aggressive schedule. I was hoping there would be a race though, something to spur another space race. Generate interest. Depending upon the design this could be a much wiser step to getting to the moon. A space station was the first step Von Braun expected. Still, the more likely course is Mir 2. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2004-05-18 1:27:08 PM |
| #1 Put a restaurant up there and offer free delivery. They'd make money. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-05-18 1:20:35 PM |