Compare China’s current economy to that of the USA when we were starting our space program. Then consider how quickly China is modernizing, and how much economic potential they have.
I could very easily see them catching up in the space race in a decade or so if we don’t start trying to compete - after all, we could have done so much more than we did if we had applied the money in more practical applications. China has hindsight, they can learn from the mistakes of the US and Soviet space programs, and some forward-thinking leaders. We may be 40 years ahead of them, but we have been spinning our wheels for the last 30 years. We could have put a man on Mars in the 70s if we had tried hard enough, or permanent bases on the moon. They don’t have THAT much catch-up to do before they can start doing more than we are currently doing.
This will probably lead to a boost in the US space program. A 21st century space race could lead to some interesting things, and I would be 100% for it if I was not concerned about the possible shifts in the balance of power.
The fact they can probably nuke any city in the world now with very little chance of interception makes those 400 or so nukes they have (290 of them strategic) a lot scarier.
I find the animosity/offhand dismissal towards this accomplishment both surprising and quite amusing. “Bah, those Chinese, their spaceship sucks and they’re evil!” Awwww, are you sad that your little club has three members instead of two? Shove over, someone else is in the sandbox.
It’s a great accomplishment. Congratulations to them. I hope they put men on the moon ASAP.
Errr. China’s had the demonstrated ability to drop a nuke anywhere in the world within 30 minutes for about three decades, so it’s hardly a mystery why that particular angle isn’t being treated as news.
There seems to be a misconception that this flight was a major Apollo-style project with the goal of putting a man in space. In reality it’s just an extension of China’s long space program. The Long March 2F launcher used for the manned flight is a man-rated version of the Long March 2E which first flew in 1990. And this isn’t even their largest rocket; the Long March 3B, used for commercial satellite launches, can put 11.2 tons into low earth orbit or 5 tons into geosynchronous transfer orbit.
They also see the cost as an investment in advanced technology. They believe the US got a major boost from the space race in the 60s and 70s and think they’ll now get one too. We’ll see.
You too may be a big hero,
Once you’ve learned to count backwards to zero.
“In German oder English I know how to count down,
Und I’m learning Chinese!” says Wernher von Braun.
The DF-4, though technically an ICBM, does not have enough range to hit ‘anywhere in the world’ - it’s current range is app. 7000 km, but that was after a series of upgrades started in 1983, back in the 70s it had a range of only 4750 km. The DF-5, which was developed in 1980, has a range up to 12,000 km, but to get that range it needs to use liquid fuel boosters that require 2 hours of fueling time before launch, that were developed later.
So China DOES have a handful of missiles that could conceivably hit anywhere in the world, but they have had that capability less than 20 years.
Sure. But they’ve had satellite launch capability for that long, and by extension, the technical ability to build an ICBM with worldwide range. Whether or not they’ve built ICBMs exploiting that technical ability is kind of irrelevant to the point the poster I was responding to was making.
Am I the only one even a little unnerved by Westerners being unnerved by China’s plans in space?
It distress me very much that people from a country that has repeatedly subverted governments and invaded countries all over the world would try to start a fight every chance they get with China just so they can have a good, long cold war again…
Please take your paranoid glasses off! China is slowly getting better, give them a chance.
Everytime I read discussions about China on the 'Net, I get more and more scared of people like you.
Positive outcome: Once China is on the moon, all those conspiracy theories about the USA faking the moonlanding will be silenced
As for this: China’s space program has the potential to eclipse ours and I am not sure that their intentions are completely benign. That’s my fear.
We´re talking about governments here and given the stuff the Bush administration pulled, my trust in them having “benign intentions” isn´t great either.
All the more reason for Europe to get their act together and launch a manned space program of their own!
Nah, it’sto be expected; there will always be some folks with a bit of xenophobia and/or paranoia in any crowd.
The best thing I hope to see from this launch is a renewed interest in space exploration. If a Chinese space shot prods the US into more orbiting space stations and a multinational lunar base, for instance, I’ll gladly put up with the loony xenos.
Yeah, they’ll be busy with conspiracy theories about China faking the moon landing. There are already people who claim China’s manned space flight was a hoax: no live broadcast from the capsule demonstrating zero-G, astronaut wasn’t smiling when he came out of the capsule, recovery team and local people got to the landing site too fast, etc. Pretty sad but that too is to be expected, I suppose.
Given that China has one of the more oppressive governments in the world, I think we have a right to be worried about them getting foothold on the high ground.
It does occur to me that your use of “damn chinks” is hyperbole in furtherance of sarcasm, but was the racial slur really necessary to make your point?
