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June 13th, 2003 |
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A Big Leap For China |
| A condensation from The China Reform Newsletter reports that China is engaged in an aggressive space program that could challenge the United States in space exploration – including a physical presence on the moon within a decade. This report comes from former Congressman Robert Walker, the recent Chairman of the Commission on the Future of the US Aerospace Industry. This was reported in the Washington Times. At the Russian Star City cosmonaut training facility, a Chinese crew is already in residence where they are engaged in studying the technologies used in space-based construction work. Walker also reports that the "Chinese are devoting substantial resources and gearing up to do some things [in space] that we are no longer technologically capable of achieving in the immediate future.” He states further that “our space technology today could not be used to replicate what we [the US] did 35 years ago [in the moon walk.” China’s ambitious space program plans to launch its first manned mission this October and hopes to establish a moon base by 2010. |