Pack your bags. We might be going to the moon -- again.
According to several news Web sites -- most from the United Kingdom and Australia -- George W. Bush will announce in a speech on Dec. 17 plans for NASA to visit the moon. These reports also state that Bush might wait, though, until his State of the Union speech in January before making the announcement.
Meanwhile, I am hoping this is another case of poor journalism.
Thus far, the reports have failed to cite any credible sources, but many "initial report" stories end up true.
If the reports are true, this moon landing would be the first since NASA completed the task in 1972, 11 years after John F. Kennedy vowed that Americans would be the first to land on the moon.
Since then, no other country has made it.
Kennedy, of course, announced this in the heat of the Cold War. The U.S.S.R. seemed to be a step ahead of America in the arms race, so Kennedy made his promise, then made good on it.
So, the only reason we went to the moon in the first place was to keep up with the Red Soviets, and now that the Soviets no longer exist, one might wonder why America should go again.
Here's a theory: According to a Nov. 29 report from the Associated Press, America has a new competitor. Luan Enjie, director of the National Aerospace Bureau of China, stated that the Chinese will visit the moon by the year 2020.
If all goes according to plan, Enjie said, a probe will be sent to orbit the moon in 2007, and China will land an unmanned spacecraft there in 2010.
Let the race begin.
In 1968, political scientist A.F.K. Organski said that China would soon become even mightier than the United States.
"The question is not whether China will become the most-powerful nation on earth, but rather how long it will take her to achieve this status," Organski wrote.
He predicted that America's dominance would last throughout the 20th century, but it would eventually fade.
Weapons technology and space exploration were once the main indicators of a nation's power. That way of thinking might be returning, and that is a scary thought.
NASA estimates that putting a man on the moon in the 1970s cost about $20 billion dollars. Frankly, that's something that America can't afford right now.
But this discussion will be meaningless if these reports turn out to be false.
White House Press Secretary Scot McMellan told the Associated Press Thursday that no policy announcement regarding the space program is expected "in the near future."
I'm inclined to hope that his statement is true, but then again, I'd hate to see those Red Chinese beat us.
Write to Jay at jdkenworthy@bsu.edu
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