 November 2003
This month's Calendar, commemorates last month's first orbital flight by Chinese pilot, Lt. Col. Yang Liwei, in a refurbished Chinese/Soyuz - Shenzhou 5 capsule... Of course, his, "I am feeling fine." Comment is probably not going to be remembered among highly quotable phrases, such as Yuri Gagarin's......................... or well, Alan Shephard's...................... John Glenn's................................? Well at least we all remember Neil Armstrong's "Hey, it really is Cheese!" When he stepped of onto the moon, and Buzz Aldrin's, "Hey, YOW!!" when he realized too late, that tricky Neil had folded up the boarding ladder without telling him...
Ahh, those were the fun days of Space Exploration... Back when the Soviets and US one-upped each other to get the first man in orbit, first woman in orbit, first monkey, first dog, first potato (it was Yuri's lunch), first space walk, plant the flag somewhere or drive a putt... Hey it was all great good fun..! But now the thing seems to have fizzled out... Where's those bases we were going to build on the Moon, where's the manned mission to Mars..? All we seem to have is a half completed space station and a few remaining shuttles which probably should've been retired a decade ago...
Maybe the Chinese are starting a li'l late, but if they have the drive and initiative to go back to the Moon or beyond, then I think we should applaud them..! Someone needs to do it, and if the Rooskies are too broke and the US too greedy and decadent to carry on, then perhaps its the Chinese turn to go somewhere, where no man has been before... (Hey, that's a nice turn of phrase, isn't it?)...
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