The first ‘taikonaut’ is, at this very minute, whooshing by over our heads at an incredible rate of speed and probably napping or eating freeze dried fried rice prior to his re-entry and touchdown around 6 tonight.
I know, China is likely to be the next big rival for the United States. And I know, the rivalry is more likely to be a hot war than a cold war because of Taiwan. But still, today isn’t a day for rivalries – except the good, competitive kind. Rather, today is a day for celebrating humanity’s limitless capability for achievement. China has launched a man into space! How cool is that? Until now there have only been two nations that launched men into space: the Soviets and us (I count the current Russian federation as an offshoot of the Soviets – same people, different uniforms). Now there’s a third country that took the great plunge and I hope and expect the Chinese won’t be content to rest on their laurels as the US and Russia have. I hope they push on with their program, try to develop more advanced craft and make big plans for the future of their space program. Maybe that will force the US to push ahead with all the ideas we’ve got in the pipeline:ion engines, lifting bodies, space elevators, reusable launch tubs, Moon bases, Mars missions.
Sometimes a little rivalry is good. Maybe now we’ll get our heads out of the sand and press on into the sky again.