Pakistan, China, Turkey, Iran and others in growing Asia Pacific Space Agency
The Asia-Pacific Space Agency continues to grow,, combining the spacefaring ambitions of China, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Cambodia, Indonesia and others:
"Given China's diplomatic use of space, there is a very good chance they would be taking somebody from a new country," Cheng said.SPACE.com -- After Shenzhou Success, China Looks to the FutureChina has spearheaded the founding of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization, a group intended to promote space cooperation between Asian nations. Cheng pointed out that both Iran and Pakistan are members of the group, and could be potential clients for Chinese space transport.
"I would strongly suspect that at this point in time the U.S. is probably unlikely to be taking any Iranian citizens into space," Cheng said. "But China has had successful sales of satellites to Nigeria and Venezuela, both of which are oil-producing countries, which would make Iran a candidate as someone who might send an astronaut up."
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The first thing I thought about when China's space launch was successful was the story that went around years ago about the Clinton administration selling missile technology to China.
Here is a discussion on that topic: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress/jan-june98/china_6-16.html
If Iran were to join such an endeavor, would that mean China would share their missile technology with them? Or, simply save a slot on their next launch for an Iranian astronaut.
This can only be good news for the US. Competition. Maybe instead of spending $5,000 a second in Iraq we can spend it on the moon.
Yes, we could use another space race of sorts, get the ball rolling. Seems to me people don't realize how important it is to explore beyond our planet.
I can't help but post this video of a song I heard as a child. I've always thought of this song throughout the years when I see news of our progress with Shuttle launches and other NASA programs (which I support 100% btw).
Whitey on the Moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5smPcN8AoE
WIkipedia -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitey_on_The_Moon
This song always made me wonder what the very poor though of our space program.
It's like the Starship Enterprise being manned by the Bad News Bears.
#1: Hmmm... I would wonder the same thing, although the larger concern would be Pakistan, not Iran. The Iranians are many years away from developing nuclear weapons, and have indicated no desire to do so. Pakistan, on the other hand, has nuclear weapons. Although they're allied with the U.S. now, at least in theory, they're getting steadily less happy with the U.S. what with all the unauthorized cross-border raids.
Anyway, I suspect that China will be even more jealous of its missile technology than the U.S., so I really doubt they would hand much of it over.
#4: Nice mashup that.
What wonderful news.
Maybe it'll spark a space race.
Maybe it'll just get someone else into space.
Either way, I don't care. It doesn't matter matter to me if the spark of humanity that gets off this planet is from my nation or not. I only care that humanity escapes this damn gravity well before it becomes uninhabitable.
-abs is a big proponent of space travel, and eventually space colonization, because the Earth is the biggest Single Point Of Failure he's ever run across
(i'm with absmillard, good for them!)
boom-de-yatta!
boom-de-yatta!
boom-de-yatta!
boom-de-yatta!