I watched a program about the space race today. How the Russians was way ahead at first with sending the first man to space and the first space walk. They lost the the race to the moon to the Americans.
After the cold war there have not been that much money put into space activity in the US. Partly because of the cost, military expenses like in Iraq and the budget deficits.
Thats why I really think the Chinese will get the first man on Mars. They have a lot of smart scientist and they have probably almost caught up to the US. Plus their government have much more power over the national spending and therefor dont need to please the citizens in the same way as in the US. So I have a feeling we have to wait for the Chinese to make that trip to Mars.
Not yet. They are still 30 years behind. But seeing that we haven't done much in 30 years, we might as well be 30 years behind ourselves. Still, they have nothing to match the throw weight of the Space Shuttle. They will have to develop the BDB if they expect to compete or even to meet the goals they have laid out for themselves. It's still Long March over there.