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The51stDivision t1_j6fa9dg wrote

Reply to comment by corsairealgerien in Number of manned orbital launches by year, 1961-2022 by firefly-metaverse

Even if China builds the first moon base, Americans can just move the goalpost and say the finish line is actually landing on Mars. If the USA first lands on Mars, Chinese can just say the finish line is actually building a Mars base… or vice versa.

IIRC neither the CNSA nor NASA have claimed anyone’s launching any “space race.” The whole thing is just fanned up by politicians and media and doesn’t actually mean anything.

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corsairealgerien t1_j6fhgva wrote

I agree with your first point, it's what the US and Soviets did in the 60s, but the NASA chief did recently literally say they were in a space race with China: "It is a fact: we're in a space race," the NASA administrator told Politico in an interview published Jan. 1. "And it is true that we better watch out that they don't get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research. And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, 'Keep out, we're here, this is our territory.'"

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ChronicBuzz187 t1_j6hv3ot wrote

>And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, 'Keep out, we're here, this is our territory.'"

The small-mindedness of this.... going to the moon or mars not to advance the entire species but to say "Look, we're the best and smartest humans on earth because we somehow made it here" when you really just build upon the work of generations that came before.

And we always have to "beat each other there" because... well... we don't really know except so we can bang out chest and tell everybody how great we are. No real point in it but that never prevented us from doing it, right?

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bookers555 t1_j6m7eri wrote

Because that's how the human brain is wired, it works best under competition, it's simply a matter of evolution.

If the first space race hadn't ended we would have seen Moon bases a long time ago.

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Dutch-Spaniard t1_j6g6bm7 wrote

>Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory.

That’s the most China thing I’ve heard

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bookers555 t1_j6gxvgd wrote

The current space race is the only reason the SLS finally got off the ground.

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