Suggest that we sit back and enjoy watching the efforts of others and their possible successes and failures.  We Americans seem to think that we have to be #1 in whatever it is we do for whatever reason and news flash, we are a mixed up nation at this time.  We have leaders who think that high speed rail and wind farms are part of what our future looks like! This country is so far off the mark on most things now days,  time to take care of our own house - on this planet.  It is time to demand more of ourselves fundamentally and time to be making critical decisions about who we elect to lead our nation moving forward. 

We're stuck on stupid, right where Barry and George Soros want us.

The repeated Bush Family administrations have poured Trillions into the Chinese coffers. The Bush Family are the greatest Manchurian Candidates that ever existed. Look at how improvished China was at the beginning of the Republican administration of Reagan-Bush sr. and NOW.

Pointing the finger at the mere 2 year Democratic administration of Obama-Biden is indeed STUCK ON STUPID!

Let them go to the moon, we've already been there, done that. They'll have to find out the hard way, like we did, that manned spaceflight is ridiculously expensive and there is insufficient return on the billions spent getting there. Lets face it, there is NOTHING there that is worth the very high cost of bringing it back.

Now, if some method was found to reduce space travel costs by several orders of magnitude, the economics would be different. Since we don't have anything like that yet, perhaps that's where we should be focusing our efforts.

BTW, handgunner, you have some typos. George's last name is spelled B U S H, and his vice presidents name didn't have a B, it's spelled C H E N E Y.

What about Clinton, A. Smith? I didn't see him reverse any of those trends.

...there is insufficient return on the billions spent getting there.

Helium-3 alone would more than pay for it. Not to mention having the ultimate high ground. We went there in the 60's to prove a point, and the technological advances coupled with the prestige we gained in the world made us a super power. China knows what we did, and they are going to do it better. They are not going just to take some photos, they are going to explore, learn, stay, and start mining He3.

ronpal - I don't even understand where this mention of failing even comes from. This article is about the hope for Chinese space exploration - it's so annoying when people try and turn this into something so negative.

ronpal,

When we were in the "beginning phases of our lunar and other space-related ventures" were were a solid #2, well behind the Russians. We caught up by throwing money at the problem and splitting the venture between scientists (think Saturn V) and politicians (think Space Shuttle.) In that way we managed to slowly subvert science and eventually end up with the money-pit worthless ISS and Space Shuttle while having to pay the Russians, Chinese and Europeans to do our heavy lifting because we do not even have the expertise to duplicate the Saturn V lifter (and we accidentally lost the plans.)

This isn't nearly so much about NASA's loss of funding, but about NASA's subordination to military and political objectives. It isn't so much about NASA's inability to do things, but their lack of a coherent non-political vision to tell them what to do.

And because so much of NASA's efforts were politically-oriented in the past, the American public is unaware that we lack the expertise or equipment to 1) set up a moon base, 2) send a man into space any further than the moon, or 3) to conduct even the scheduled projects. I am 67. I always thought we would be a log further along in space exploration than we are currently. But as it is, we will not see a base on the moon or a man anywhere near Mars in my lifetime, even if I live to be 100.

We'll see a base on the moon, it just won't be an American base.

I know for most it's hard to believe but there's already a base up there. If you do your homework, the Navy did a mission back in the mid 90's and sent a satelite called Clementine up to the moon and got panoramic pics all around the moon. Some images, (If you know the lat and long) will show this very base. Obviously they dont want those images getting out, this is where photoshop comes in. But some have images leaked through the cracks and on the Navy website, it was there plane as day. A base larger than a few football fields and older than dirt. They have upgraded to a new site over the last year and you cannot find the images anymore, but there out there if you know where to look. Maybe the Chinese will have the gusto to say "Hey, we find Moon base, been there long time". This info will stay suppressed and will reamin that way until the powers that be say different.

A great discovery, Mr. Pink. And they have a huge dome where they raise cattle and vegetables to feed themselves. Fortunately, the sun is brighter there, so they have new strains of crops. The reason nobody has noticed the rockets going up with the cigarettes, Scotch, condoms, and shaving cream is that they launch at three in the morning from the Russian base at Bokhanur, in Kazakhstan. It is good thing that the water under the surface of the moon has been found. Otherwise, the navy might have some trouble floating the vessels thay plan to send next year.

I hate government spending. I love government spending.

I love government spending. I hate government spending.

I hate government spending. I hate government spending.

So... you hate roads? Schools?

And kittens. Roads, schools, and kittens. And national defense, too.

What about the puppies? Don't forget the puppies... :)

So, Blitzu, you have apparently never seen the photos of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon?

What makes you think that other nations are interested in revisiting the exact same location where the USA landed in 1969? The moon is a big place. Why return to an area that has already been explored? That would be redundancy and a complete waste of funding for any nations.

To look at your comment from another angle, perhaps the fact that no other nation has felt the need to send back photos that prove the American were already on the moon is proof that other countries believe that we were already there. If they believe, then why don't you?

Blitzu,

There are plenty of pictures from orbiters of the landing sites on the moon that show vehicle tracks and equipment left behind. Here is a link to a recent one: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8157368.stm

There are literally thousands of others. After the first few hundred pictures, they tend to get boring. You conspiracy people never quite give up do you?

Blitzu,

I can't believe there are still people like you out amongst the rest of us. It shouldn't surprise me since there are people that believe the Earth is 6k years old, flat, and that earthquakes are caused by giants or demons miles underground jumping up and down. If you want further proof that it was real, watch 'Myth Busters'. I'm sure you can find the episode of the 'moon landing hoax' on Youtube.

earthquakes are caused by immodest women

Some of you might find interesting reading in Herman Wouk's "The Lomokome Papers," about a failed mission to the moon.

Rather like how we felt when the Russians put the first satellite in orbit and the first man in space - we were a bit embarrassed, renewed an emphasis on science education and engineering, then poured money into getting "first" at another goal, landing our men on the moon.

There won't be much reaction if China lands on the moon, since we were already there first. I think it highly unlikely that China or Russia will send anyone to Mars, considering the very high costs and extreme difficulty, but if they do we'll probably react like we did to Sputnik, get all excited, spend too much finding something to "be Number One" at, then forget about it. In the long run, it doesn't really matter much.

Well said!

Our manned exploration beyond LEO has been on PAUSE since 1972. In 2011 our LEO capabilities will be shut off. Face it, we are like the Vikings. We found the New World, but didn't stay. Now, other nations will go, explore, and spread out.

Cessna - one would hope that China's lunar explorations would indeed be a wake-up call for the leader's of this country. Unfortunately, no one seems to feel the urgency that was felt when the Russians launched Sputnik. Most people have no understanding of the significance of the advancements we reaped as a result of the Space Race of the 60s, 70s and beyond. It's one of the few areas in which taxpayers received a return on their investment. Only the ignorant view space exploration as a waste of funding. Establishing a human presence on the moon, Mars and should be done in the interest of continued advancement of knowledge, especially scientific knowledge. As for the survival of the human race, we are not even a blip in the universe. Whether or not we survive is inconsequential.

The universe might not "care" if we survive, but we do. Our survival is perfectly consequential from our own perspective. If we don't matter then there's really no point in even having the debate.

The problem is that current space travel uses up a lot of resources, far more than it could possibly return from the moon or anyplace else, so if we're going to be short of resources we should cancel, not accelerate, the space program. Fortunately, thats not yet the case, we still have time to stabilize the population and find sufficient resources here for centuries to come.

The benefits we've received from NASA funding came mainly from research here on earth and satellites for communication and observation. Manned space flight, not so much, just the entertainment of watching astronauts cavorting in zero gee and bounding around on the moon, and a few pebbles returned from the moon. We'd have been far better off funding research and not funding manned spaceflight.

Unless a dramatic change is made in space travel for dramatically reducing resources and money needed, space travel cannot solve our resource problems.

CM - you don't understand that solving the countless challenges of putting a human or any living creature into space, keeping him alive and bringing him safely back to Earth generated tremendous advancements for mankind that would not have occurred had we merely been researching satellites for communication and observation. Satellites are inert objects. Launching one into orbit is far less complicated than launching a living organism into orbit and providing an environment that will sustain life. Many of these advancements have been tremendously beneficial in medical applications. Yes, the research was done here on Earth, but exactly where else could it have been done?

stevenvz1 - the fact of the matter is that humans don't matter one iota in the grand scheme of the universe. To think otherwise is quite egotistical and self-centered.

It is economically feasible to establish a colony in space. Why? Because you would be establishing a trading partner. Some place to export your goods to. Economic stimulation on Earth.

I would like to see us send one to Uranus because it is the next planet outward beyond Saturn, where we and the Europeans sent Cassini and the Titan probe. Perhaps we can team with Europe when Europe finds its way out of its budget problems. Special reason for visiting Uranus: it is the planet next in size after earth. I would think that scientists could learn a lot about the physics of a body that is about 4 times the diameter and 14 times the mass of the Earth.

Uranus is NOT "the planet next in size after Earth", both Mars and Venus are much closer to the size of Earth. Uranus is a gas giant the size of several Earths put together

I think he meant the next largest.. Venus and Mars are both smaller than earth. I know Uranus and Neptune are close in size to each other but always thought Neptune was next larger to Earth. Anyway, those few shots we got from Voyager, although fascinating, just aren't enough for me. I'd like to see a Galileo or Cassini type mission to one or both of those ice giant systems.

I'm also looking forward to the new horizions mission to Pluto/Charron in 2015!

100% agree. We will only be able to service and sue each other. We may know how to build things, but we can't becasue of expense.

A viable and powerful economy needs MANUFACTURING.

Why pay an American $40 per hour to build a wooden box when you can pay a Tiawanese to build it for $2 per day? And you will probably get more boxes per day.

We must keep the War machine going. It is what keeps our economy and the world running. No Wars = global economic collapse. It's quit logical really. Cheers

The Republican Bush jr.'s Economic Strategy of War Time economic growth was proven to be a utter failure. Trillions were poured into Iraq and Afghanistan along with the few select no-bid contractors on the Vice President's favored list AND the American NATION and American Citizens suffered. While the American taxpayers are being forced to divert Trillions into foreign Nations Oil War's, there is simply no way for America to reach prosperity and reach out to the earth's solar system as we could.

Meanwhile the Israeli Zionists are pushing 24/7 along with their depraved legion of AIPAC foreign agents in Washington DC. America's lawmakers to attack Iran which could very well draw America into a shooting war with Iran's ally's China, North Korea and Russia.

I believe that defense research develops technologies that we all can use, just as space research does. Remember, defense spending goes to American jobs ( the few that are left and must stay in the USA.)

@Naganooch

If we don't find a way to settle outside of this planet, we're all going to die. We're not just going to overpopulate and kill each other off until it reaches a nice minimum population, we're going to destroy the environment so nothing will be able to live here. The way we get to the next goldilock's planet is through mars.

In capitalism, it's pretty much law that there are regular recessions and depressions. In 100 years, no one will give a flying @!$%# how much our taxes are or how we were able to pig out on a daily basis, they will care about our scientific accomplishments. They are the only things that matter if we are to continue our species. Why do people worship the economy like it's some kind of divine entity? Why don't people USE the economy to live a satisfying life? If we are to progress as a species, we have to learn moderation in our own habits. No one should live in a mansion and throw away pounds of food a day. Everyone, however should be required to be educated. And I don't mean our present American education because it's horrible.

Peter, I was using the economy as an example. There are better ways than just the economy to spend our efforts fixing something but the economy is on everyone's minds these days.

I do agree with you that we need to take care of the environment that we have. I am educated, I don't live in a mansion and I don't throw away pounds of food. I live quite modest but my argument about visiting other planets is this:

How are we supposed to teraform another planet when there is nothing on that planet to start with? Where will the seeds, water, vegitation, oxygen... etc. come from? Earth maybe? So we'll kill our planet in the hopes to start up another planet to make that one habitable because we were too arrogant as a species to make this planet work... Not realistic.

I am hopeful that man/women can get it straight and not destroy this planet in our generation or in future generations... after all, in my lifetime and yours, this will be our only home.

Peter, nice post.

Naganooch, we will not strip Earth. We will take enough seeds to get things going. Then grow more seeds there on Mars. Water already exists on Mars, vegetation would come from the seeds and oxygen would be generated by plants eventually, but with CO2 scrubbers in the beginning, like they use in submarines today.

It really doesn't matter in the long run. The Earth will melt when the sun expands. We need to get off this little rock and move about the Universe if we are to survive as a species. The group that gets off this planet first has the best chance at the real long term survival.

In the short term, helium-3 from the Moon could power the Earth for a thousand years. Think Saudi Arabia, but for a millenium, and controlled by the Chinese.

Let’s dumb down the populous with; marketing, Marketing, MARKETING and sell, Sell, SELL, more, More, MORE and of course, make more money for me, Me, ME! I’m so insecure and impotent because someone else is/or looks financially more potent than I am.

That's not to say that "some" distribution on infromation of products isn't useful.

But taken to the extreme, for-sure this product will make you so potent,or it's so obvious that the opposite sex will just adore you if you have this.

Or, you just can't be enjoying life if you don,t have this, it will make you "so" full-filled.

I could go on and on, but it makes me want to gag.

Add that to your list of thoughts.