Friday, December 30, 2005

That Space Race Nouveau

Yahoo News has an article about China's moon probe taking another step:

China's plans to send a spacecraft around the moon have reached a new stage, with the unmanned orbiter and rocket entering production and testing, China's top aerospace official said on Thursday.

Luan Enjie, commander of China's "round the moon" project, said the Chang'e 1 Lunar Orbiter and a launch rocket are being assembled and tested, and the launch site and command system are also taking shape, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Luan said the craft is still on schedule to be launched in 2007.


Interestingly, there's a little quote at the end of the article that might be a journalistic oops, but might not also:

Japan has also announced plans to land a person on the moon by 2025.


My, oh my. I wondered if the Japanese would throw their hat in the ring. If true, this race is going to be far more of a race for the New World than the last one was. The US-Soviet race was far more of the Viking Vinland and Irish fisherman model than the Columbian Contact.

Here's hoping for Columbus, not Bjorni (sp).


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