Posted on 09/30/2011 5:31:19 PM PDT by Kaslin
Exceptionalism: While the American space program is in a museum, Beijing orbits a nearly 9-ton space station module. Soon men will return to the moon, but they will likely be speaking Chinese.
While America was scanning the skies waiting for an aging satellite to fall to earth, China was looking to the skies and seeing its future.
On Thursday, Beijing launched into space aboard a Long March 2F rocket a space station module weighing 8.5 metric tons that will serve as a prototype for a 60-ton Chinese space lab to be in orbit by 2020.
Americans may yawn and say "been there, done that" and, besides, we have other things on our plate right now. But this latest nail in the coffin of American exceptionalism has serious implications for both U.S. leadership and security. China's space program is intimately connected to its military aspirations, and it views space as a venue for more than tadpole experiments.
Not long ago, Capt. Shen Zhong of the Chinese Navy Research Institute said: "The mastery of outer space will be requisite for military victory, with outer space becoming the new venue for combat."
Certainly the Chinese development of an operational anti-satellite program speaks to Beijing's view that space is not a demilitarized zone.
The Tiangong 1 module is expected to remain in orbit for two years. China, the third nation after Russia and America to put humans into space, plans to launch two Shenzhou spacecraft in 2012 for unmanned docking trials. A third may carry a crew to populate the Tiangong 1.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Obama is now sicking the DOT on the model rocket industry to change model rocket motors from being classified as a Flammable Solid to an Explosive to make shipping costs outrageous even though there has never been an event of a model rocket motor exploding while in transit. Think this will discourage children from reaching for the stars? Of course!
Here’s a letter below about the situation.
Urgent Notice - Your Immediate Action Is Needed, Send Your E-Mail By October 10th, Help preserve your rights regarding model rocketry.
Dear AeroTech Customer,
Many people are concerned with new government regulations that seem destined to limit our freedoms as well as those that affect our hobbies. You may have heard of some recently that affect various hobbies.
New regulations are being considered regarding model rocket motors. This may not immediately impact your access to model rocket materials but it’s just another step toward more restrictive regulations concerning our hobby and deserves your attention.
The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has recently advised that they propose to terminate a special permit under which model rocket motors and igniters have been shipped for the last 33 years. If the permit is terminated model rocket motors and igniters will no longer be able to be shipped as “Flammable Solids” and will instead have to be shipped as “Explosives.”
In 33 years there have been no incidents involved in the shipping and transporting of model rocket motors and igniters. The model rocket industry needs your support in order to continue to make our product available. Attached is a sample e-mail that we request you send immediately to express your support.
We believe that shipping model rocket motors and igniters as “Explosives” would only cause unnecessary concern for hobby shops, educators, youth group leaders and families using model rockets for educational and recreational purposes.
If you believe as we do, please send an e-mail to the Department of Transportation no later than October 10, 2011. To assist you, here is a sample e-mail:
—
TO: specialpermits@dot.gov
Subject: DOT-SP 7887 Show Cause Response
Dear Associate Administrator,
The purpose of this e-mail is to request that DOT-SP 7887 be kept in force as written. The Special Permit, previously DOT-E 7887 has been in place since 1978 and is used by many of us who enjoy hobbies including model rockets, motors and igniters.
To my knowledge, there has never been an incident involving the shipping and transporting of model rocket motors and igniters. Further I believe that shipping these products as “Explosives” will create unnecessary fear and difficulty for those handling, transporting, receiving, storing, selling and using these products.
After 33 years of use, the termination of the Special Permit is unwarranted and possibly damaging to an educational and recreational product that has an excellent record. In closing, I again request the Special Permit be kept in place as written.
- Your Name and Address
—
Please take a few minutes to send your e-mail today!
Thank you very much for your support of model rocketry.
RCS, Inc.
AeroTech Division
2113 W 850 N
Cedar City, UT 84721
Ph: 435-865-7100 Ext. 104
Fax: 435-865-7120
This is no longer the 1950s....that America no longer exists. We are, in many respects, a welfare nation with almost 50% of the population not paying any taxes. We have no borders & the crimes we see committed on a daily basis were unheard of in our nations past. Space programs are run by serious nations....I don’t know if we are a serious nation any longer.
Hey we’re still the front runners... Nasa’s new directive is to push climate change.
“China’s space program is intimately connected to its military aspirations, and it views space as a venue for more than tadpole experiments.”
Space will be the first theater of operation in the next world war.
You have got that right!! Amen.
“Nasa’s new directive is to push climate change.”
What? We’re no longer doing Muslim Outreach?!
What’s a space agency to do?
Preach it, brother! Amen! Get gooberment out.
/johnny
Something the U.S. space program has lacked for many years.
And this isn't the first time the U.S. has left space to other countries. We had no manned missions between 1975 and 1981. I doubt that it'll be six years before another American craft is in space...but this time I think it'll be sent there by a private company.
“Space will be the first theater of operation in the next world war.”
This will not end well.
LOL! Muslim Outreach?! Are you kidding me! Every community in America now has some simblance or element of a mosque! Even here in Wyoming one can witness a burka walking down the street. And to think some noob troll on another thread is worried about the wolves in Idaho!
All the more reason to get the space program out of the hands of NASA and give it to the military. Space is a matter of national defense.
He who militarizes there first will be the winner. And the funny thing is it’s only a few hundred miles from here.
I gotta say, most of the commenters on this thread need to get some INFORMATION. The end of gummint space is by no means the end of space exploration. A little comparative history - the initial explorations of the new world were gummint funded - think Columbus, 1492 and all that. Afterwards, private persons started sending ships. That is pretty much where we are - transitioning from big gummint to capitalism. That is a good place to be actually. If the gummint will get the hell out of the way, that is.
In case you have not guessed, space is militarized. Already. I personally helped get a few of those surveillance satellites up there.
No, that is not correct. Democracy worked, and a President was elected that had vision that matched the desires of the electorate.
And herein lies the problem. The US democracy is in such a shape that if new elections were to be held the new President will be the guy who promises most handouts and entitlements at cost of everything else (including reason, reality and laws of physics.) Life is hard; but the electorate doesn't want to hear that message. Obama was elected because he promised what the voters wanted.
China is free of these democratic experiments, of course. China is ruled by a closed society. Once you are in you are set for life, just like US Supreme Court judges. This frees the party bosses from the need to appease voters. The party simply asks their analysts "What is the rational thing to do in this and that situation?" and does what analysts come up with. These may be unpopular decisions, but China has enough tanks to deal with that little problem. In the end, however, the country is ruled by reason - even though it tramples the rights and needs of an individual. (That's how Communism was supposed to be anyway.) A country that is ruled by reason of course will overtake a country that is ruled by populism.
“I personally helped get a few of those surveillance satellites up there.”
And which ever side’s interceptors in orbit is first to take out the other side is the winner.
no... the BOY abandoned space! America will prolly go back when the mutt is gone...
For who, though?
If we have the will, we have thousands of craft capable of reaching up and touching LEO space, at minimum. All ya gotta do is replace the nukes with kinetic kill vehicles and change the software a little to get rid of those pesky orbital things.
Or not. Leave the nukes, change the software.
We still own the high ground.
/johnny
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