MSCL.com

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/10/1 ... index.html

I don't give a crap about the politics of it, this is an amazing thing. CNN has said they plan to be on the moon in 16 years. I think Aaron Sorkin wrote it best in West Wing when President Bartlett said about a failing soviet satellite:

It was not a spaceship from another planet, just another time. A long since abandoned Soviet satellite, one of its booster rockets didnt fire and it couldn't escape the earths orbit--a sad reminder of a time when two powerful nations challenged each other and then boldly raced into outer space.

What will be the next thing that challenges us . . . ? That makes us work harder and go farther? . . . Surely, we can do it again. As we did in the time when our eyes looked toward the heavens, and with outstretched fingers, we touched the face of God.

I'm overjoyed that humankind has not stagnated, and is still fulfilling our inner drive to explore and learn. The possibilities are endless once we have shed our dependance on this one solitary planet.

"I don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet." -Stephen Hawking

This is so cool... my friend got back from a trip to China on sunday and he simply cannot believe that China has managed this: their society is in a mess in so many ways, and apparently apart from Shanghai and Beijing they can't seem to hold together simple basic infrastructure, let alone put someone in space.

I guess they've done it, but the question is why? I know people want to boldly go, and whatever, but judging from the pictures I have just seen and the stories heard, the money might have been better spent elsewhere.

Oh, and he brought me the most amazing gift I have ever seen... it's a bright red flip top cigarette lighter (no, I don't smoke) with a picture of their wonderous leader on it. When you flip the lid it plays the chinese national anthem and when you press the button a small blowtorch (seriously, the health and safety risks are huge) errupts from within and the whole thing heats up!

I think that considering the state of China, they should be putting less effort into space travel and more into trying to fix what's going on at home. It's sad to think about how advanced Chinese civilization was for so long, how many innovations came from Chinese culture, and now look at the way most people live there. I guess I never got over reading Mao's biography (the one written by his physician).

Exactly. Their society is in such a mess but space travel and grandstanding seems top of the agenda. Plus China has a dreadful human rights record but for some reason they just seem to dip under people's radar when it comes to that.

Did you know that china is the world's largest exporter of shampoo?

Ummmm, because everyone in China already has clean hair?

Seriously, no, I never knew that! You are a walking fountain of knowledge!

It is just because my friend got back from there on Sunday - so he's spouting facts, figures, and comments about it all at the moment...

Sounds like it was very educational then! The second time I went to Hawaii, we took a 12 hour bus tour around the big island so I learned soooo much (most of which I have since forgotten). When I watched the special features on Lilo & Stitch, my boyfriend was laughing at me because I remembered some of the stuff (like the different words for lava) from the bus tour four years ago.

starbug wrote:Exactly. Their society is in such a mess but space travel and grandstanding seems top of the agenda. Plus China has a dreadful human rights record but for some reason they just seem to dip under people's radar when it comes to that.

Did you know that china is the world's largest exporter of shampoo?

The same argument could be made with regard to the old USSR & the US. There will always be other worthwhile budgetary priorites.

I for one am thrilled that they managed to pull it off. If China does succeed in its space program it might even spur on NASA and the European Space Agency to do more space exploration & manned flights. Good news all around.

No, I didn't know that china is the world's largest exporter of shampoo.

LanceMan

I love how space travel unites people, reminds us of how small we are and that there is something beyond our petty cultural differences and political posturing. This flight may not have gotten the farmers more money for their cows or electricity for their huts, but when you consider how much the money could have done spread out amungst the people, this flight might have done more for the people of china than a welfare check ever could have. It lets them dream.

lance wrote:The same argument could be made with regard to the old USSR & the US. There will always be other worthwhile budgetary priorites.
I for one am thrilled that they managed to pull it off. If China does succeed in its space program it might even spur on NASA and the European Space Agency to do more space exploration & manned flights. Good news all around.

I feel the same way. i'm a little inspired by "Parable of the Sower" by Octavia E. Butler. If we always focus on meeting immediate needs it will be quite a long time before we can invest in things like space exploration that have no definite reward but in the long run may be the only chance we have for survival. It's a difficult issue for me to really decide my position on though because it's hard to justify letting people living right now go without medical treatment, food or shelter so that people born a thousand years from now can be saved from some undefined disaster. I see the merits of both sides and i'm too wishy washy to decide what i think is right. Either way good for China for achieving it's goal.

Plus China has a dreadful human rights record but for some reason they just seem to dip under people's radar when it comes to that.

Hmm, after writing my reply to this i thought it was better placed on the politics forum so it's there under "Human Rights" which seemed like a potentially useful general thread for the politics section.