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- michaelpinto, on 07/02/2008, -4/+46As a NASA fanboy I hope that the Chinese land on Mars within a few years — it would shock the American public into funding a manned space program once again. As a child some of my earliest memories are of the Apollo program — it's pathetic at this point in the 21st Century that humans aren't walking around on Mars.
- AmyVernon, on 07/02/2008, -5/+30it really is a shame the U.S. has fallen so far behind in this. I know there are so many problems down here on earth that need addressing, but i can't help but think that we're losing so much by not exploring our greater surroundings. or maybe i've just read too much sci-fi.
- seraph582, on 07/02/2008, -4/+24he's cutting NASA funding, dufus. Christ sakes - Obama supporters get dumber by the day!
- BeefBaron, on 07/03/2008, -3/+21Sorry, too busy spending all the taxpayer money on killing people for great profit.
- cerejota, on 07/03/2008, -4/+20I am tired of this yellow peril ***** jingoism... get over it, other countries will go to space and will explore it too. There is no space race, there is the evolutionaruy human impulse to explore to immensity of the universe!!!
- richlizard24, on 07/03/2008, -5/+19Obama finds it more pertinent to increase funding for Bush's faith programs than increase NASA's budget. Forgive me if I am wrong, but I think a lot more would come from NASA with a larger budget than faith programs with a larger budget. Money spent on useless faith programs could be given to agencies like NASA or used for a million other different reasons. Separation of church and state my friends. NASA rules!
- Julik, on 07/03/2008, -0/+9People argue that it will take years to get any oil out of ANWR, how long do you think it is going to take to get energy off the moon...
- hiPpymIck, on 07/02/2008, -2/+11i like the way theres good international cooperation..
yet it can also be a good source of international competition
win/win - TheOle, on 07/03/2008, -2/+10May I ask why it would be so dissapointing? We're all humans and an achievement that big should make us all proud, no matter what nation did it.
- hexydes, on 07/03/2008, -1/+9This article is so stupid. It approaches this subject like all of these nations now have these successful programs, and the United States no longer has a program.
Please name one other nation that can launch seven people into space, along with tons of cargo to build a floating space station. Please also include in this list those nations who have successfully sent people to the Moon.
Everything China does, they do under a veil of secrecy. They only publicize what they want you to see. This is exactly what the Soviet Union did with their program. Then 30 years later the books are opened up and what we thought was a neck-and-neck space race was really the Russians sh*tting the bed trying to keep up with the US after about 1965.
The US had the best space program. The US HAS the best space program. And until I see some actual progressions past what the US has already done, then the US will continue to have the best space program in the future. - edebolt, on 07/03/2008, -1/+9The US was once the space leader??? China has gotten a few people into space on minor missions. Let's not get theatrical and carried away.
- racco, on 07/03/2008, -0/+8what are all those idiot that have paid for land on the moon gonna do when China and the US start fighting over it?
http://www.moonestates.com/shop-moonestates.php - inactive, on 07/03/2008, -0/+7We could have a thousand gallon space tanker to bring the fuel back to earth using a hundred thousand gallons of rocket fuel. It's the only solution.
- birdcity, on 07/03/2008, -1/+8i dont care who wins as long as we humans on earth can benefit from this
- rald84, on 07/03/2008, -1/+8"Will the US lose the moon race?"
BREAKING: neil armstrong landed on the moon in 1969 - LucasVB, on 07/03/2008, -0/+7Oscar Wilde said it best:
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." - JasonCox, on 07/03/2008, -0/+7What does the future hold? With the way NASA's budget is going, they'll be lucky to afford bottle rockets in a few years let alone the Moon or Mars.
- jnoodles, on 07/03/2008, -0/+7Sorry, but that's nonsense
- viciouspictures, on 07/02/2008, -9/+16Yeah, sure, "renewable energy."
China will burn through every pound of coal on the planet before mining the moon- if they have any reason to get Helium 3 it's for a new class of weapons. You can bet the US will get back into that game! - sonnybobiche, on 07/03/2008, -4/+11I'm sure China will be more than happy to share the bounty. Cause they're so friendly and all.
- hexydes, on 07/03/2008, -1/+7I think you're very confused about the state of world events.
P.S. The US still IS the leader in space exploration. Period. The only nation that has even come close to the US is Russia. If you're using a scale of 1 to 10 to measure abilities (current) in space, it would be something like:
United States - 10
Russia - 6
China - 2
Europe - 1
Japan - .5
India - .25
Everyone Else - N/A
The fact that you agree with the statement that the United States has lost its position of leader in space shows just how ignorant you are. - Brian48216, on 07/03/2008, -0/+6Actually, if we really wanted to go back to the moon for visiting the moon sake, we couldn't.
The equipment from the Apollo era simply doesn't exist anymore, the companies that made it don't exist anymore, the equipment that services it doesn't exist, and the expertise of the engineers and scientists that worked on the program doesn't exist anymore. All that's left are some blueprints and even those are either incomplete, lost, or need the original designers to tell you what the hell they meant. - hexydes, on 07/03/2008, -0/+6Uhm, a track record of many, many, MANY successful missions, and a space program that has achieved those successes year after year for the past half-century?
- grizwald, on 07/03/2008, -0/+6MOON WAR!
- tuxerware, on 07/03/2008, -0/+6Your ideas != Actual fact.
- battleangel7, on 07/03/2008, -0/+5I thought the US won the race to the moon in 1969.
- BigW, on 07/03/2008, -0/+5Why the hell not. It not like there's any endangered species there...
- inactive, on 07/03/2008, -0/+5"Or did you think they just lined their pockets with it..."
Well...here in NYC there have been several shelters exposed for lining their pockets... - mmwilhelm, on 07/03/2008, -0/+5Demonstrated ability. Been there, done that. Got the moon rocks.
- bravo1995, on 07/03/2008, -0/+5Despite the accidents, the Space Shuttle is far more reliable and far more impressive than people give it credit for. The Space Shuttle is the second most powerful rocket that ever existed, and no manned spacecraft is capable of sending as much cargo into space.
People got bored with the Space Shuttle because it actually made space travel ROUTINE. That's what we have. - zacharytelschow, on 07/03/2008, -1/+5Didn't we... already... you know... go to the moon? I wasn't alive then, but I'm pretty sure that's what happened.
- sanman, on 07/03/2008, -0/+4But now Glorious People's Republic can eject you from the airlock and bill you for the lost oxygen
- majortom1981, on 07/03/2008, -2/+6It depends on what you mean by lose. Remember the US has already been to the moon. China hasn't. We can go to the moon next year if we wanted to but we are trying to do it right. We are also developing a new reusable spacecraft for the new moon missions also thats why its taking so long/. The moon mission from what i understand will also be a test for the shuttle replacement. if we were just interested in getting back to the moon we could do it with the same equipment we used for the apollo missions.
Heck a moon lander from the cancelled apollo missions still exists at the craddle of aviation museum here on long island ( its an actual lander since grumman who helped build them was and still is on long island). - inactive, on 07/03/2008, -1/+5The "space race" isn't won by being there first. It is won by being there and staying there. You've got to have some economic activity going on in order to make a defensible claim.
To all you "i dont care who wins as long as we humans on earth can benefit" people, China is going to use their position to benefit everyone. Yeah, right.
Space is the ultimate high ground. It WILL be used as a platform for dominance. - Enron, on 07/03/2008, -0/+4You're right. Obama will be gutting NASA's manned spaceflight budget in favor of funding federalized preschool programs.
- tuxerware, on 07/03/2008, -0/+4Sure "!=" i used in C programming to check if is not equal to another value. All the operators at explained here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operators_in_C_and_C% ... - masterm1nd, on 07/03/2008, -0/+4Plus the competition is ultimately what drives us there. Would we have been to the moon already if not for previous space race? I don't know, but I do know it would at the very least have taken longer.
- CriX, on 07/03/2008, -0/+4Oh stop it with the He3 BS. We don't have fusion plants!!! China is a far distant 3rd place. Read the specs on this badass: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ares_V 130MT to LEO, thank you very much!
- arjie, on 07/03/2008, -0/+3Am I the only person still dreaming for an Arthur C. Clarke future? Too bad the military uses of so much of space technology preclude any joint attempt at the moon. I just hope that if there is ever any such joint venture they'll let India join just because it'll make me feel fuzzy inside.
- sanman, on 07/03/2008, -1/+4Why would you use exotic Helium-3 in a weapon? Can it even be used in a weapon? It's probably too hard to fuse.
Everybody's ogling the 3He, without even considering whether practical fusion is possible with it, even just for energy production purposes. - bravo1995, on 07/03/2008, -0/+3@flogistan: I'm not a rocket scientist, but it's my understanding that to accomplish something like that, the return vehicle (or at least its propellant) would have to be generated on the Moon. That's one of the plans in the works for getting people home from Mars (collecting methane as a propellant, and converting CO2 to oxygen for as an oxidizer to fuel the return vehicle).
- noahhoward, on 07/03/2008, -1/+4Until we decrease the mass of the moon and our tides slack.
- bravo1995, on 07/03/2008, -0/+3@khouros: You're right, the Moon's gravity is 1/6 that of Earth's. But the lunar module ascent stage from Apollo (including propellant) had a mass of 4,500 kg, while the Saturn V rocket (with payload) had a mass of 3,200,000 kg (also from Wikipedia). So, assuming your numbers are right, the LM ascent stage was 45% propellant, while the Saturn V was 63% propellant. A substantial difference, but not a huge difference.
The Space Shuttle has a payload capacity of 25,000 kg, so far more propellant would be required to get "one Space Shuttle load" of cargo off the surface of the Moon. Perhaps it's doable with today's propulsion technology (you'd need a rocket considerably more powerful than a Saturn V, which has never been developed), but logistically, it's much more difficult than getting two astronauts in a flimsy LM off the surface of the Moon. - Majhem, on 07/03/2008, -0/+3Popular trends suggest that you will be dugg (+/-?) with 'Obamaforic' references.
- mediahaze, on 07/03/2008, -2/+5I don't think its right to say that people are worried about Chinese power because their country is mostly composed different race. I would say that its based on fact that most of what we see and hear about China is big military shows of power when leaders meet(reminds me of Nazi Germany and troops and tanks going by) and the fact that democracy's don't war with each other...
- bravo1995, on 07/03/2008, -0/+3Brian's right. I work for NASA, and 99% of the engineers I work with joined NASA during the Shuttle program. It's going to take until 2020 to get back to the Moon because the infrastructure to do so no longer exists. Saturn rockets were basically forgotten the instant the Skylab program ended.
- topcat5, on 07/03/2008, -0/+3Sure. The USA has outsourced all it's manufacturing to China and we are happy to get the cheap crap from there. So why not Space Exploration too.
- Synge, on 07/03/2008, -1/+4YOU GO MOON NOW!
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