China planning moon landing as first step to Mars

spacedaily.com ^ | 20 May 02 | AFP

[paul51]

China planning moon landing as first step to Mars

This will be after they learn how to organize a fire drill.

[rmmcdaniell]

You mean this estes rocket?

You can find plans for that rocket and other classics at: http://www.dars.org/jimz/estes.htm

[Wm Bach]

Bless you! *wipes tear from eye.

[RightWhale]

That's exactly how it looks to me, too. You can't win if you're not at the table, and America is not at the table.

[RightWhale]

after they learn how to organize a fire drill.

They aren't stupid. They have had an unfortunate history but they work hard and their goal is not beyond the pale. One thing for sure is that if we continue to sit on our country estates they will eventually overtake us and move beyond. When they get into space, they won't look back to see if they need to slow up to wait for us; they will be at full throttle and we will never catch up.

[techcor]

One can make an effective counter-argument with a well-placed box of rocks. (I mean that quite literally.)

ala "Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Heinlein or am I missing the gist?

[gwynapnudd]

Red Chinese unveil new shuttle design for moon landing

[gwynapnudd]

Moon exploration will commence as soon as they master the technology of the flush toilet.

[RightWhale]

China is rapidly overcoming the toilet gap as a result of hosting the soon-to-be upcoming world Olympics. The toilets, the Olympics, and the moon landing are coming together in a grand syzygy.

[r9etb]

The people, at the street level, don't believe in Socialism any more.

The people at street level, however, are not the ones responsible for pushing through a Chinese moon base. That's left the the Party Hacks, and as such won't happen any time soon.

Same deal if we suppose that the party suddenly crumbles. If China miraculously avoids civil war, the entreprenurial spirit of the Chinese is unlikely to spend its time looking for moon bases and the like, which offer no prospects of even medium-term returns.

This is a creature of the Politburo, and it dies with the Politburo.

[gwynapnudd]

Chinese experts believe these "canals" on the surface of Mars are excellent sites for future Benjo trenches!

[Jay W]

Clearly, much of the electorate is comfortable with Communists.

The more general point was that the citizenry in America is comfortable with its own stupidity.

[Brett66]

Maybe one scenario could realistically play out. The Chinese could set up a base there and realize it's too expensive and abandon it. Just like we did with Apollo. My only hope is that private companies will purchase the base and establish the first lunar hotel. That would cause an interesting lunar property rights debate.

[Brett66]

The American public is likely to be apathetic, but if the president would make the case to the American people, they would support it. It all depends on the leadership.

[DAnconia55]

Not good.

If we could open space to commerical ventures, China will be beaten.

If NASA has to do it, then we'll lose.

[Brett66]

An excerpt from an article from Spacedaily:

Huang Chunping, Chief Commander of the Changzheng-2F (CZ-2F) launcher program at the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), said that a successful SZ-4 mission later this year would pave the way for China to launch its yuhangyuans ("astronauts") after that.

This places the earliest opportunity for the historic first manned mission on SZ-5.

CZ-2F is the human-rated and improved version of the CZ-2E launcher, and is designed specifically for the manned space project.

Huang also told the Hong Kong-based pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao that China would be capable of mounting a manned lunar mission within three to four years.

Rest of article here:

China Hopes Manned Spaceflight Will Open Road To Moon

[Brett66]

A manned lunar mission in 3-4 years is hard to believe. It's probably just communist bluster. OTOH, if he's aware of hardware that has already been built that still remains secret, then it could be attempted. The question is, how much does this Chunping guy know and when did he know it. ;)

[r9etb]

You mean the way the Russian space program died with the USSR?

Well, yes. What you see now cannot be described as a healthy space program, and it's certainly not up to the task of undertaking the "national glory" projects that marked the USSR's program.