STAR WARS--THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK:

Will There Be A Nuclear Space Race Between America And China (Wayne Smith, Jan 28, 2003, NuclearSpace.com)

The China Daily reports that China has spent 2.3 billion US dollars toward putting a man into space in October of this year -- and that is only the beginning of their ambitions.

The Chinese space program first began in 1956 with 30 young scientists and roughly 100 college graduates, some of whom didn't even know "exactly what missiles were," according to a Chinese government publication.

On Monday, November 21, 1999, they launched their first unmanned Shenzhou space vehicle with a view to eventually launching men into space. China invented the first rocket almost 900 years ago and now they want to be at the forefront of modern development. A nuclear space race would see a return to the frenzied and visionary, if politically induced, days of Apollo.

Let's hope that Nasa's nuclear space challenge does indeed awaken the Dragon.

Unless China implodes in the immediate future the arms race will certainly be carried to space. That's why Missile Defense is far too paltry a vision for America's space based weapons program. Our goal should be to develop the capability of destroying every single satellite in Earth orbit. The ability to leave our enemies largely blind and silent and to eliminate any weapons they may put in space seems like an imperative. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 30, 2003 4:37 PM