[RightWhale]

Once the Chinese get a head-start, how long will it take for NASA, the Space Command, or Congress to become alarmed and start an expensive crash program, a new race to the moon?

[LarryLied]

This time around, the rocketmen leading our program won't be Germans but Asians.

[Jeff Gordon]

China can exploit the mineral and all other resources on the earth from a Moon base. Tell your kids to start learning Mandrin.

[PsyOp]

The paper quoted Wang Zhuangyin, a leading space-program engineer, as saying China would probably be able to achieve manned space flight by 2005.

Which means that by the time they're ready to put a colony on the Moon, there will be a McDonalds waiting for them to arrive. "You want fries with that moonshake? Comrade."

[galt-jw]

dream on. someone is really feeling it. before bubba you morons couldnt launch a rocket without it exploding.

oh yeah, know what it says on their spacecraft?

light fuse and get away.

besides, everyone knows aliens have bases there already.<;=)

[Maitre_Z]

How many millions of dollars per ton will it cost to lug those (worthless?) rocks back to earth.

This is a typical communist misallocation of resources - ideology before sensible investments.

We should encourage them to do so. It might hasten the collapse their economy since the cost to benefit will be extremely high.

[rellimpank]

--good. While they waste time and money on this idiotic scheme, it will detract from their ability to cause mischief here on earth--

[Newbomb Turk]

GOOD DAMN LUCK !

[opinionator]

The Chinese will also become the first to discover a way to turn lead into gold. Come on America! Get off your butts! Let's throw all our money into this worthwhile program!

[jwh_Denver]

What a joke. "Ah so, yes, we spend $16 trillion dollar to bring back $2 moon dust!" And yeah, "Hey Chicoms!, your crappy clothes you make wont make the trip, better buy American."

[Int]

By the time this happens, China would already have a space station in orbit for many years. Who knows what the international political situation will look like then? Perhaps there will be a united grab for the moon's resources by everyone including NASA, the European Space Agency and that of the Japanese. The question is; how will La Luna be divided up? Might makes right? Equal division? Do countries without a space programme deserve any of the minerals? And will the Greenies (little greenie men? :-) be able to muster enough opposition to the whole plan?

[ALOHA RONNIE]

...GOD SPEED ...John Glenn...

...Communist China's real 1st -Man in Space-..

[A CA Guy]

I heard they were going up there to take back an old part of China. By force if need be.

[Semper911]

This is bullsh!t. They are up to something else.

[green team 1999]

fast moving object near the surface,
the chinese will have to fight with the locals on the moon.

[Jorge]

"Our long-term goal is to set up a base on the moon and mine its riches for the benefit of humanity," the Beijing Morning Post said, citing Ouyang Ziyuan, an official with the Chinese space program.

Since when has China's concern for humanity extended beyond it's desire to oppress humans?
This is a joke right?

[Husker24]

Yea maybe in about 500 years, there still a rubber dog crap economy.

[Prodigal Son]

I already know how they'll get past the obvious economic draw back (moon rock costs too much to bring to Earth)- they'll just use human power. Imagine the biggest human chain ever formed ;-) The Chinese have enough people that if they were to all stretch their arms out and line up fingertip to fingertip- they'd easily reach the Moon. They'd have enough for shift work. The Moon's what- roughly 400,000 kilometers away? Assuming an armspan of one meter- it'd take a thousand Chinamen to reach one kilometer. There's a million thousand Chinese- enough to go to the Moon and back practically.

They'll just pass the moon rocks hand over hand all the way back to Earth- d'oh!

[oceanperch]

Could this change the look of the Man on the Moons Face to Asian Features?

[oceanperch]

They could have one hell of a Meth Lab set up. Does the war on drugs include Moon territory?

[crypt2k]

The Red Chinese simply cannot be allowed to establish a foothold in space, on the Moon or Mars. The United States has to get there first and make it impossible for them.