China’s First Spacewalk,
Who Cares?

This is getting some play in the media and I think the Associated Press quote down below gives it best in a nutshell:

“A Chinese astronaut on Saturday performed the nation’s first-ever spacewalk, the latest milestone in an ambitious program that is increasingly rivaling the United States and Russia in its rapid expansion,” the Associated Press reported.

Excuse me a second when I laugh. “… increasingly rivaling the United States and Russia in its rapid expansion.”

Really? Is China’s space program really going to rival that of the U.S. and Russia because it finally had its first spacewalk? But more importantly, it shouldn’t be getting this much play.

After all, both Russia and the U.S. had their first spacewalk in 1965. But considering China’s love affair with restricting basic human rights and what not, I guess waiting 43 years to catch up to two other world superpowers would be consider “rapid expansion.”

Congratulating China on achieving its first spacewalk nearly half a century behind the rest of the world is like congratulating modern day extreme Muslim clerics for admitting that raped women are victims and shouldn’t be stoned to death.

Sure, maybe I’m being a bit too harsh. For a country that has swamped America and the world with cheap and poorly made products by workers with little to no basic rights and tainted baby milk, China may start to flood the stratosphere with space bicycles and floating sweatshops.

While it’s commendable that China is reaching for the stars, for that is where humans are destine to go, it’s a little late in the day to congratulate it for doing something that has been done repeatedly for more than 40 years now.

The only way China could impress me is if they could get the first man on the moon. Oh, wait …