How will Bush react to Chinese when they put a man on the moon?

[ShaneGR]

Seriously, anyone here think the chinese effort at a space program will cause the US to ramp up ours?

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20031010/D7U3A2000.html


BEIJING (AP) - Setting its sights on the stars, the Chinese government confirmed Friday that it would attempt its first manned space launch next week.

The spacecraft, the Shenzhou 5, will orbit the Earth 14 times before landing, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The launch is scheduled for sometime between Oct. 15 and 17, it said, citing the country's space agency.

The launch would make China the third country to put a human being into space. The former Soviet Union put Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961; the United States sent Alan B. Shepard Jr. up less than a month later.

[Throckmorton]

1. Bush will not be pResident when they do it.

Actually, I suspect the China will want "in" with the US and Russia on future join ventures in space. This current program is to prove to the world that China is the equal to the other spacefaring nations. This being done, they will try an hook-up with us, as it seems that the US is the cash cow, Moo, here is some money, make me a rocket that works.

[alexwcovington]

7. Yeah

Even if he gets re-selected

[bryant69]

2. I suspect

There'll be a lot of talk of privitizing the space program of leting Companies make money of space. There already is in some corners, actually.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[alexwcovington]

6. Uhm

you can't make money off the shuttle... oh wait... yes, the contractors already make vast profits...

[bryant69]

9. Well.

It depends on whether you think there are natural resources on the moon and around the solar system. I tend to think their probably are. I also see nothing particularly sinister in trying to find out--if a company wants to invest in that, well, why not?

[JHB]

3. Easy to answer: Just ask yourself...

..."is there oil on the Moon?"

The answer is no, so he has no interest in it.

[charlie]

4. Man on the moon is a looong way off for China

They're going to do a low orbit 200 miles up, basically what Yuri Gagarin and John Glenn did 40 years ago. It takes massive rocketry to send a manned craft to the moon. Anyway, they have no reason to do it, except for maybe national pride.

[alexwcovington]

5. Which we did, what... THIRTY years ago

2010 is a reasonable timeline.

[charlie]

12. Because we made it a national priority

We were in a race against a feared and despised enemy to be first. Plus, it had huge popular support, in large part because of the memory of a slain president. China has little reason to head for the moon, low to mid earth orbit is the commercial frontier.

[11 Bravo]

8. Bush needs two hands and a road map to finds his own ass.

Does anyone believe he even knows where China or the moon are actually located?

[alphafemale]

10. "Those Orientals claim lactose intolerence...

Yet, as all Americans know and believe the moon is made of cheese.

They couldn't go the moon unless they had developed evil biological methods to alter their bodies.

Therefore they obviously have evil biological weapons they intend to use against us. :crazy: :silly: :crazy:

[cprise]

13. Hee hee

Hopefully they won't get a gas attack.

[alphafemale]

15. A billion people with simultaneous gas could warp the time space continum

:evilgrin:

[realFedUp]

11. Send them to Disney World?

Get the EP-3 parts back?

[kcwayne]

14. They will ramp up our defensive posture

If the Chinese can put a man in space, they have the ability to drop a ballistic nuclear armed missle on Washington.

The Chinese are climbing into the catbird's seat. They are destabilizing the entire world's economy on the backs of slave labor. They are benefitting enormously from the infusion of capital and technology as our corporations fall all over themselves to relocate their entire means of production there and take advantage of $100 per month labor.

Now as our economy collapses from the weight of our own military commitments we are faced with having to spend even more to counter the Chinese nuclear threat. The US companies that have invested billions in China will be screaming for their protection by the US tax payers they have left without jobs. The US will find itself in a very precarious position to play hardball with China.

The flashpoint will be the Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Rally around the flag boys, we will have to go protect GE, RCA, Intel, and Microsoft assets trapped on the Chinese mainland.

When that day comes, my preference will be to strap the fucking CEO's to tip of a JDAM and drop them in the Sea of Japan, and tell the Chinese they can have the assets.

[Man_in_the_Moon]

16. The Moon is MINE Dammit!!!

And nobody else can have it

[snippy]

18. What about this guy?

. . .

"In 1980, Dennis Hope sent letters to the United Nations, the United States government and the government of the former Soviet Union, informing them that he was officially claiming ownership of all planetary and lunar surfaces (aside from the Earth) in our solar system. He even gave them the opportunity to respond if they had objections, and as crazy as it sounds, he hasn't heard a word from any of them since.

So...for twenty years Dennis Hope has been selling plots on the Moon, Mars and other heavenly bodies - for a pretty reasonable price! And he's been pursuing this as not just a novelty sale, but a serious real estate transaction (complete with covenants and bylaws that prevent the unsightly or trivial usage of the property). His sales are accelerating, and within a couple of years he anticipates he'll have a constituency in the millions - enough to put serious pressure on the UN and the U.S. to recognize the government of Luna (never mind that not a single landlord has set foot on the property yet)."

http://www.scifidimensions.com/Feb01/dennishope.htm

[snippy]

17. Bush will want to dress up in an astronaut suit and do a shuttle landing.