[snopercod]

Not bad for being only 40+ years behind in the space race...

What you don't understand is that it was America's last generation that sent us to the moon, and China's current generation that will send them to the moon. The brilliant individuals who sent Americans to the moon are all either retired or dead. Their apprentices mostly moved on in 1972 when Nixon killed the program.

I'm sorry, but America's current generation has neither the knowledge nor the ability to design and launch a capsule like the Chinese just did, even if the politicians gave them the money. The "modern" generation has grown up watching MTV, playing video games, and hanging out on the street corners, not building model rockets and studying mathematics and science.

There are no more Wernher von Brauns or Gene Kranzes within NASA.

[TexasGunLover]

I'm afraid I don't agree. While I won't argue that there are differences between the previous generation and the current one, I will say that it is certainly still possible for us to do so. You need to understand that China's space program is built on the backs of ours and the Russians. The Chinese have virtually no innovation in any of their efforts and are only good at copying others.