With all the other political discussions going on here at AM, this may have escaped the attention of many: China has soft landed a craft on the moon and is planning a lunar base. Am I living in the past with the view, which was repeated many times in the 50s and 60s, "He who controls the moon, controls the earth"? I still think there is some truth to this. Granted we have a space station, although it's not the big wheel I hoped for with artificial gravity. The moon, though, is different. Hard to get to, but easy to launch objects from. I'm not all paranoid about the Chinese getting a base there to hit us with missiles, I just don't want to look back in 20 years and say we should have kept up with them with respect to presence on the moon. I know there are plenty of other concerns, financially and otherwise, but a joint government and private venture to establish a moon base is in the best interest of the US.
Photo below, courtesy of WIKIPEDIA.
Photo below, courtesy of WIKIPEDIA.
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