Tech Shout!

It seems the next humans to step on the moon may just be the Chinese. This statement was made by NASA’s administrator, Michael Griffin who said that the combination of budget cuts, the obstacles in the NASA lunar program and a well-funded effort by the Chinese has finally made the previously unthinkable possibility, a real one.

Michael Griffin also mentioned that looking at current projections, the American’s return to the moon would not take place until 2019 at the earliest.

“If they wanted to mount a lunar mission, they could do so. And yes, they could get to the moon before we return,” Griffin said.

Griffin said it “would be easily possible” for the Chinese to put humans on the lunar surface “within a decade.” China launched two taikonauts into orbit in 2005. A Chinese robotic probe to the moon is scheduled to blast off this year.

Griffin said China’s space program has roughly the same capabilities as the USA’s Gemini program, which first flew four years before NASA landed a man on the moon in 1969. “I don’t think we’re in a race with any nation,” he said, but “it is important to me personally that the U.S. be clearly the (leader) in space in the world.”