Obama ready for China space race

In order to meet the challenge of a robust Chinese space program, President-elect Barack Obama is expected to explore launching NASA payloads with military rockets.

Beijing is known to be working toward landing astronauts on the Moon and is expected to attempt a docking in space in 2010 in preparation for the mission. American defense analysts fear that China's new space abilities may threaten American military and other space assets.

The U.S. will have to rent Russian launch vehicles until NASA launches its new Orion rocket probably sometime in 2015, five years after the retirement of the present launch vehicle.

ABC News

Obama Moves to Counter China in Space With Pentagon-NASA Link
Bloomberg - 1 hour ago
By Demian McLean Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama will probably tear down long-standing barriers between the US’s civilian and military space programs to speed up a mission to the moon amid the prospect of a new space race with China.
Video: NASA Gives Graphic Details of Columbia Deaths AssociatedPress



No way crew could survive Straits Times