PREVIEW: Awful mood for NASA jubilee: Is China headed for the moon?

Science News

By Peer Meinert Sep 27, 2008, 20:03 GMT

Washington - NASA celebrates its 50th anniversary Wednesday, but the US space agency is hardly in the mood for partying. Even NASA boss Michael Griffin, who is usually rather a cold technician, recently sounded the alarm. After all, the agency's greatest triumphs, notably the first moon landing, took place almost 40 years ago. In public, Griffin restrains himself, but in private, he bluntly expresses his concern that US dominance in space could soon give way to China. It was the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that gave the United States its greatest national triumph since the end of World War II. The images of July 20, 1969, are unforgettable: astronauts in their cumbersome but shiny suits before a grey lunar background, their footprints in the moon dust and the Stars and Stripes staked against a sky in which floated planet Earth. These images are proudly engraved in the nation's conscience. Space, and particularly manned missions to space, became part of the American ethos of a pioneering spirit mixed with a desire to push limits. The men who dared to travel to space at the time were hailed as modern heroes. However, times have changed. Griffin's fear that the Chinese could beat NASA in the second race to the moon would indeed be a real nightmare for the United States. The North American giant space apparatus is planning to send another astronaut to the moon by 2020, as a stepping stone to Mars, but the work on the new Orion spacecraft is going slower than planned because of budgetary problems. 'A Chinese landing on the moon prior to our own return will create a stark perception that the US lags behind not only Russia but also China in space,' Griffin wrote in an internal document that was made public, to the US government's great displeasure. No country has made as much progress as China in recent years in relation to manned space missions. Its advance has come as the United States has seen its budgets for space exploration shrink. 'We spent many tens of billions of dollars during the Apollo era to purchase a commanding lead in space over all nations on Earth,' Griffin recalled while complaining that NASA's budget has been cut by about 20 per cent since 1992, once inflation is taken into account. 'We've been living off the fruit of that purchase for 40 years and have not ... chosen to invest at a level that would preserve that commanding lead,' Griffin charged. The US space outlay really started with the 'Sputnik crisis' of October 1957 when the Soviet Union became the first country to launch a satellite into space. In the Cold War setting, the blow showed that the Russians - so often derided in science and technical matters - were capable of delivering surprises and outdoing the Americans. US president Dwight Eisenhower reacted promptly by founding a space agency, and NASA started work on October 1, 1958. It initially had 8,000 employees but has seen that number grow to about 18,000 today. The first leader among NASA engineers was Wernher von Braun, the German engineer who helped German dictator Adolf Hitler develop the V2 rocket that reduced British cities to rubble and ashes in World War II. Braun transferred the secret missile plans of the Nazis to his new employers at NASA. His cooperation was at first kept secret, and many US citizens were shocked when the German's involvement became known. The Soviets initially retained their lead in the space race. On April 12, 1961, they launched the first human being into space, Yuri Gagarin. John Glenn followed as the first American in space on February 20, 1962. It was the young US president John Kennedy who first set 'the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.' The Apollo programme was launched. Never before had the United States successfully undertaken such a Herculean scientific and technical task. In the middle of the Cold War, it established the dominance of the United States in space and technical matters, seemingly for good. And yet, the triumph of the moon landing was the zenith of its effort, and that was 40 years ago. The Vietnam War, a lack of funds and growing doubts about the expense and purpose of manned space missions put a brake on this drive. Accidents like the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle in January 1986 and the Columbia catastrophe of February 2003, which caused the deaths of seven astronauts each, also contributed to damping down enthusiasm. Shuttles more generally turned out to be flops. Initially, the reusable vehicles were supposed to make space missions cheaper. However, the bills did not decrease, and the complicated shuttles instead ate up the bulk of the NASA budget for decades. Finally, NASA decided to retire the two-decades-old ageing shuttles for good by May 2010 and focus instead on returning to the moon with a view to using the Earth's natural satellite as a jumping off point for further space exploration. In meantime, the US will lack its own transportation to the International Space Station, built largely with US money and effort, for at least five years and will have to beg a place in the considerably smaller and less comfortable Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Years ago, such a Russian monopoly in space would have been unthinkable for the United States, and so while it celebrates its birthday, NASA must fight off the sombre mood of being left somehow behind. The new US space capsule Orion is not set to be operational before at least 2015. To rekindle enthusiasm around space, President George W Bush talked of the new goals of putting a US astronaut back on the moon by 2020 and on Mars by 2037. In the meantime, Congress is about to pass several laws that would allow NASA to support Russia's Soyuz space programme in order to keep US access to the space station and to demand that NASA keep shuttles serviceable enough to be resurrected if need be, the Washington Post reported Saturday.

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VanSep 27th, 2008 - 21:28:58

NASA is the problem. They cant launch a paper airplane for less than $10K.

American ego is the problem. NASA is forced to 'buy American' for all its parts, which is why our space program costs too much (and still things blow up!)

The Federal Aviation Administration is the problem. Did colonists need permits and licenses and inspections and 'regulated' parts that cost 100X what they should, to explore the New World from Europe in the 1500s? No, they were free to take their chances on their own terms.

Washington DC is the problem. Our representatives in govt have spent us into such a hole that we now cannot ever even pay off our national debt. Where is the money supposed to come from, for a 'national' (read: socialist) space program?

The USSR got mankind into space. America got mankind onto the moon, and built the ISS. I believe China will now get mankind to a permanent moon base, and to Mars. Not America nor Russia - both have peaked, then partied and destroyed their own economies.

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Aibric Eire.Sep 28th, 2008 - 00:21:41

The militarisation of space must be avoided, NASA is just the public face of this nefarious quest . The industrial military complex are up to their oxters in this.
No dewy eyed 'spirit of adventure ' nonsense please , this is about control.
Control of entry and exit off the planet into the next century.
The battle for the ultimate 'high ground' has commenced.

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You know????Sep 28th, 2008 - 07:29:37

The Russians were the first to launch a satellite into space.

The Russians were again the first to launch a human being into space.

The Russians yet again were the first to do a space walk.

America was actively LOSING the space war.

Therefore, Americans imagined this fantasy that they went to the moon. That the Russians to this day haven't been able to match, I am talking about the fantasy. Because the Americans controlled the media at the time they controlled what information the public around the world would get. So they made up this story about going to the moon, complete with a 'filmed' segment and all. I especially liked the part where the flag planted on 'lunar' surface was blowing in the wind. There is but one thing though....there is no wind in space *chuckle* excuse me.

Not to mention that it begs the question why to this day they haven't been back? The reason is that not even with todays technology have they been able to go to the moon. Let alone back than.

America is good at fabricating stories to advance it own agenda, whether these claims are true or not, or if they even can be backed up by proof.

Most people in the world are on to America. We are well educated and well read not to mention well informed. We know the truth! We watch media other than the propaganda machines of the US and western Europe.

America can't lie to us anymore.

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JimSep 28th, 2008 - 16:34:18

You know ????

I think you really ought to get out more or take some professional advice and analysis

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PhilSep 29th, 2008 - 09:22:18

Before we get any more nut cases trying to promote their conspiracy fantasies, read this -

Another part of the moon landing hoax theory deals with the American flag. The picture that was sent back showed this flag fluttering as in a wind. Some believers in the moon landing hoax feel that this was proof that this picture had been taken on earth and not the result of a moon landing. The fact that the flag flutters in the wind when there is no wind on the moon could lend some degree of credibility to the belief that this was a hoax. However, experts, in an attempt to defend the landing against the moon landing hoax theory explained that a vacuum has no friction. On the moon things don't stop moving as quickly as they do on Earth, so when the astronauts got the flag attached to the surface and straightened, it stayed there longer than what we are accustomed to. Hence the picture was taken with the flag waving is proof that the moon landing hoax theory is incorrec

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X. CHENSep 29th, 2008 - 10:13:02

It is fun to read the comments by Americans.

We, Chinese, have been questing ourselves for over 100 years.

Questing ourselves why we lost the leading postion of the world, considering the fact that we have been leading the world for over 2000 years in socialty and technologies, which ended not long ago, just from the 18th century;

Questing ourselves why we were invaded (by Japan and other western countries), colonied (Hong Kong, marcou etc..)

Questing ourselves why Chinese are discriminated oversea, which is really rediculous.

The achievment itself is the result of the self questing. When the whole nation is doing this, it is going to release some power to rise again. As simple as this.

So, do not blame yourselves very much. A good world means everyone in this world is good, including Chinese and American. A good world does not mean that American is good alone in this world.

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tonyP4Sep 29th, 2008 - 23:37:50

Is who is on top that important as long as space expedition is good for man-kind and not for military purposes?

China is far behind us and will remain so for a long while. They claim they use the space for peaceful purpose.
------

Random thoughts.

* US and Soviet did same 40 years ago. But better than Japan and India in space technology.
*I hope China will not spend a lot but keep it as a viable project forever (learn from the US space funding problem).
* The economical return is diminishing (except the prestige and some satellite business). It is better to spend money/effort to control the quality of the products such as the tinted milk and toys.
* You need a lot of technologies to support the space program, esp. US and the west deny the dual use technologies. So, it demonstrates how China’s technology advances.
* There are military uses for sure. Better missiles… China can shoot down all the GPS satellites except theirs, so they can control Taiwan without US missile interferences. However, from the last 50 years of history, how many times China sent soldiers outside their border vs US?

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redSep 29th, 2008 - 23:59:51

alan sheparrd was the first american in space. not john glenn

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IanSep 30th, 2008 - 09:35:21

Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth, but not (technically) in Space. But that is all a bit of an academic argument, since Gagarin had been in space a year before

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X. CHENSep 30th, 2008 - 13:13:30

Before you suspecting the purpose of the spacecraft of China, I think USA'd better think about:
Who generated the intenational terrorism. Why the terrorists aimed USA.
Why people hate you that much, so much that they will sacrifise their lives to use body bomb.
Who is sending troops oversea invading other countries.
Who is telling others that what they should do, what they should not.
Who has the highest military budget.
Who is so called 'world police'. (Maybe you think this is a positive word?)
Do you really think that other people welcome a police to put other value on them?

Nobody wants a war except you force them to. Nobody wants to die except for when they find no hope to survive.

It really doesn't matter that you have your values. But other people have their values too. They do not necessarily have to follow your values which are short sighted, short goal aimed etc.. The world history was not only 200 years. Today is not 1960's. It is not the end of the world neither.

You would have to learn to respect your neighbours on this globe, which is the same for any country in this world including America.

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X. CHENSep 30th, 2008 - 14:01:08

Regarding to the contaminated mild powder, it is really a bad story. Nobody wants to see this. Accident happens all the time. We can not avoid accident/mistake 100%. But we can learn from it and avoid it in the future.

I wish America good luck on this finance crisis since I know this is an accident too, an accident in the finance history of America. American people will learn from it and pass by it. When people look back after they pass by this finance accident, they can say that they learned something so to avoid the same mistake in the future.

It is an really off-topic by talking about the finance crisis. But the common point is that we are human being. We make mistakes which human being makes.

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PREVIEW: Awful mood for NASA jubilee: Is China headed for the moon?

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