China Is The Next Space Superpower

China: The Next Space Superpower -- Eliza Strickland, IEEE Spectrum

A lunar rover, a crewed space station, and new rockets top China's space agenda

For the opening ceremony of the 64th International Astronautical Congress in Beijing this past September, the Chinese hosts pulled out all the stops. Acrobats bounded against a backdrop of starry skies, dancers in bulky spacesuits lumbered across the stage, and opera singers sang songs of love under a glowing neon moon.

Throughout the weeklong conference, Chinese officials spoke proudly of developing their lunar exploration program, building a heavy-lift rocket, constructing a spaceport, and planning an orbital space station. As 2014 dawns, China has the most active and ambitious space program in the world.

“They are having launches, and in the United States we’re in gridlock,” says Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, in Newport, R.I. “The Chinese will have a rover onthe moon, and we’re still developing PowerPoints for programs that don’t get approved by Congress.” That rover is rolling over the regolith right now.

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My Comment: China has the manpower, resources, and (more importantly) the will to become the dominant power is space. In many ways China's space program reminds me of the U.S. and Soviet space programs of the 1960s .... the excitement and energy is all there, as well as the dream of exploring space.