China is forging ahead with plans to put a man on the moon sometime after 2020.
Some experts worry the US could slip behind China in human spaceflight. Former associate NASA administrator Scott Pace said, “A decline in space leadership will be seen as symbolic of a relative decline in US power and influence.”
An ongoing US space shuttle mission will be the last. NASA is ending the program after 30 years.
China is still far behind the US in space but has made steady progress in recent years. It sent a probe to the moon in 2006 and carried out its first spacewalk in 2008. This year it plans to launch a train-car size module into orbit as the first building block for a planned space station.
A visitor stands near the Shenzhou 5 re-entry capsule, that will be used in China's first human spaceflight mission, and the the space suit worn by crew member (AP Photo)
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