Comments on: What are the implications of China’s latest spacewalk? http://www.thehypermodern.com/2008/10/16/what-are-the-implications-of-chinas-latest-spacewalk/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-are-the-implications-of-chinas-latest-spacewalk Culture and politics on both sides of the Pacific. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:23:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Caitlin Cashin http://www.thehypermodern.com/2008/10/16/what-are-the-implications-of-chinas-latest-spacewalk/comment-page-1/#comment-104 Caitlin Cashin Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:06:45 +0000 http://www.thehypermodern.com/?p=138#comment-104 The Space Race is a thing of the past, in my opinion. Frankly, I'm with the UK - we're better off leaving space exploration to machines. I think it's great that China has a space program, but I think the days of asserting supremacy by launching people into orbit are over - if those days ever really existed. That was largely USA vs. USSR competition. There is no check-list for becoming a world super-power. If China really wants to lead the way and assert itself, it should work on advances in stem-cell research, alternative energy, water conservation, neurology, robotics. We're not in the sixties, we're not even in the 20th century. Take the millions and millions of dollars it costs to put a human being in space and invest it in the issues the rest of the world should have been worried about when they were too busy trying to put a man on the moon. The Space Race is a thing of the past, in my opinion. Frankly, I’m with the UK – we’re better off leaving space exploration to machines. I think it’s great that China has a space program, but I think the days of asserting supremacy by launching people into orbit are over – if those days ever really existed. That was largely USA vs. USSR competition.

There is no check-list for becoming a world super-power. If China really wants to lead the way and assert itself, it should work on advances in stem-cell research, alternative energy, water conservation, neurology, robotics. We’re not in the sixties, we’re not even in the 20th century. Take the millions and millions of dollars it costs to put a human being in space and invest it in the issues the rest of the world should have been worried about when they were too busy trying to put a man on the moon.

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