Mike MalaskaArticle on the new space race to the Moon between US and China, written by Larry David:
https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/the-new-space-race/
If China stopped, would the US stop? Probably
If US stopped, would China stop? No.
Joseph Shoer@mike_malaska I'm deeply skeptical of all the "race" language. If there are geopolitical rewards to claiming to be first to land astronauts, then the US could approach this just with PR. "Congrats on catching up to where we were 50 years ago!"
Otoh, if the race is to establish infrastructure, then the Artemis architecture is not the right solution to the problem -- and even less so after the reswizzling!
I'm left feeling that the US just doesn't know what it wants in space.
@jpshoer Agree. But funding follows percieved threats.
If it pumps money into space program and there are useful side-quests, is that a bad thing?
@mike_malaska I guess not... over time I've been losing patience with some of the bad justifications that lead to bad prioritizations. But I do like this side quest we are on...!