China aiming to be newest—and largest—space superpower Experts say a Chinese moon landing "very much in the cards."

the REST of the World ...wants to know what NASA (Hidden Breakaway Civ.)   found ...out there ?   um ah oh yea & 'collateralize'   SPACE  ?                                                           

China aiming to be newest—and largest—space superpower

Experts say a Chinese moon landing "very much in the cards."

by Lee Hutchinson - Aug 24 2013, 1:30pm EST

• Space

Shenzhou 9's Long March-2F, prior to launch.

Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China

Even as NASA sells off pieces of its manned space program to cope with the commercial-dependent future, China is pressing powerfully forward with its own national space program. With five manned missions under its belt, China plans on launching its own manned space station at the end of the current decade (right around the time the ISS is currently planned to be de-orbited). The nation is aggressively pressing forward in its manned space flight efforts, building on advances first made by the United States and the Soviet Union (and, later, Russia). In fact, China will be working with the United Nations to host a major international workshop on manned space flight at the end of September, in Bejing. According to Leonard David of SPACE.com, "the five-day international workshop will bring together senior experts, professionals and decision-makers from public sectors, academia, and industry worldwide."
It's a public showing, and one that is attracting a great deal of attention to China's space program—both for what is being said, and also for what isn't being said. David quotes multiple experts, who agree that China ultimately has set its sights on its own manned lunar landing and that the nation is currently laying substantial groundwork toward that goal. Many of the technological requirements for a lunar landing—orbit, rendezvous, docking—have already been accomplished, and from a capability standpoint China appears to already have surpassed where the United States was at the end of Project Gemini.
One question that has repeatedly come up is whether or not a Chinese flag planted squarely on the moon would energize the United States' space program. Speaking with SPACE.com, Berry College professor of political science John Hickman expressed doubt that taikonauts on the moon would have a rallying effect on the US. Hickman notes that in the space race of the 1960s, the United States was in a position of economic advantage over the Soviet Union and was able to pull off a political and economic "come from behind win," but that in comparison to China the United States has no such economic advantage. "China is not the Soviet Union," he said.