@davidnjoku

Yup.

Related:
I never see any of the "I'm just excited about space progress and science!" crowd celebrating any of the Chinese space flight accomplishments.

They were silent when China landed a robot on the moon a few years ago. Silent when China landed a rover on Mars. Silent about the Chinese space station that's orbiting the planet. Silent about China's crewed mission to Mars that is on schedule to depart on 2033.

When they talk about space and science and exploration being "humanity's accomplishments," it's pretty clear who they're viewing as humanity. There's an era of cold war nationalism that feels yucky.

@mekkaokereke @davidnjoku

Here I would draw a distinction between those of us working on planetary & space science and the contingent you describe.

Since the professional communities worldwide all work with one another - even across the firewall (as my teachers worked with their Soviet counterparts across the curtain).

And I assume you meant to write "China's crewed mission to the Moon" there, which is what is planned for that time subject to the heavy Long March tests working.

@michael_w_busch @davidnjoku

No, I meant Mars. As recently as 2021, China said that 2033 is the planned date for the crewed Mars mission.

Unless that has changed since then?

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/24/china-plans-for-first-manned-mission-to-mars-in-2033

And unlike Elon, China has hit most of their planned space exploration dates.