Everyone's Going Back To The Moon

China's lunar first unlikely to kick off a new space race, Houston Chronicle

"Cowing said he will not be surprised to see a Chinese flag on the moon in coming years. "When they will do it, I'm not sure. Their resources are more constrained than ours but they are nothing if not relentless," Cowing said. "I think there's an excellent chance that if our goals start shifting toward the early 2030s, if we go back we'll be waving at China saying, 'Hi guys, we're back.'" If that happens, he said it would make sense to partner with the Chinese on the lunar surface. "If you build a beach house next to someone else's beach house, you're both going to get worried when there's a storm and you're going to try to avoid the problems," he said. "That's the underlying theme in space, too."

China lands Chang'e-4 probe on 'dark' side of moon, Deutsche Welle

"If we are as a species going to study the moon further, we need to go to the far side," NASA Watch editor Keith Cowing told DW."

from NASA Watch http://bit.ly/2VwW3ol
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