China Is Kicking America’s Ass in Space

China Is Kicking America’s Ass in Space

https://amgreatness.com/2019/12/30/china-is-kicking-americas-ass-in-space/

Excerpt: China has overcome its last significant hurdle to spaceflight. The Chinese have successfully launched their much-anticipated Long March V heavy-lift rocket. China can now place the modules to construct the Tianhe-1 space station (meant to rival the International Space Station) in orbit and, more importantly, Beijing can attempt its first interplanetary mission to Mars in late 2020. Beijing can also conduct the Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission next year. This mission is meant to determine whether there are enough mineable resources on the lunar surface. China plans to strip-mine the moon eventually. [At the risk of being obvious, “American know how” is dependent upon Americans actually knowing how and then doing it. It also depends on our being able to protect that knowledge from discovery by others. We pretty much gave up on space after the final Apollo mission. We may have given up, but the world didn’t. Now we can play catch-up or be passed by. Ron P.]