December 29, 2011

Red Moon Rising: China Plans a Manned Lunar Landing

What’s the Big Idea?

China has just made its intentions clear. According to a recently released white paper, it is now official Chinese policy to launch the country’s own space station and put an astronaut on the moon by 2020.

According to former astronaut and second generation Chinese American Leroy Chiao, Sino-American relations in space have been basically non-existent. So what has the U.S. risked by not cooperating with the Chinese? According to Chiao, “we gave them motivation to develop their own capability. They developed a very capable rocket system, very capable spacecraft. And if we don’t cooperate with them in the future, they’re going to develop more capable systems.”

Watch the video here:

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

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