Here we go again. The Japanese have a lunar orbiter in place. The newly launched Chinese will have theirs in place November 5th. India will launch theirs next April. The US? A year from now.
As the US war in Iraq wastes billions in Earth-bound futility, it is ironic that the Sputnik anniversary is ushering in a new era of spaceflight from everyone except the US. Maybe we shouldn’t be too harsh? The Mars Rovers are still functional years past their due date, and the US leads the “Mars Race” because, well, there is nobody else out there.
Pull in the focus, and the Mars glow isn’t so rosy. The Shuttle is still battling functional issues, and the US budget for a manned Mars expedition is fighting mind share issues. When’s the last time we heard about THAT Dubya idea?
At this rate, maybe the US should buy tickets to Mars on the Chinese spacecraft? After all, the US has taught them everything they need to know, that they didn’t “acquire” some other way.
Perhaps NASA needs to place a help wanted ad before November 2008: “Visionary Desired”.
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