China is capable of sending a manned mission to the Moon within the next decade, if it so wishes, NASA administrator Michael Griffin has said. The US space agency plans to return people to the lunar surface by 2020 using its new Orion spacecraft.
But it is just possible the first people on the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 could be planting a flag with five stars, not 50. In 2003, China became only the third country to launch a person into orbit.
By the time the yanks get back there, there will be a chain of Chinese takeaways, offering all you can eat for 10 dollars a head, space parties welcome. The first one planned will be opened on the shores of the Sea of Tranquillity.
