Sep
29
When a company does a country thing! That’s history.
September 29, 2008 |
How advanced is the ‘West’ be compared to the ‘East’! Half a century maybe. Going by the fact that way back in 1965, the Gemini 4 mission enabled United States conduct it’s first ever spacewalk! And, only 43 years later did the Chinese manage to send their men to space! Now this is not history or ground breaking. It’s just ‘me too’, ‘good job guys’, ‘Oh, better late than never, welcome to the club boys!’.
Space exploration is a ‘country versus country’ thing. It’s a showcase of a country’s growing technological prowess. It’s not a ‘yay! we build rockets too’ thing, it’s a finally, ‘we too’ build rockets thing… But what happens when a private company gets in to this space. That’s exactly what happened when Space X an American company, showcased it’s capabilities in an area that’s traditionally the domain of a few privileged countries. I just saw a video that shows them successfully launching Falcon 1, a space vehicle. Now, ‘this’ is history, as it is the first ever privately developed rocket that has made it into space. Notwithstanding the fact that this was their fourth attempt.
I wonder how long it would be before a private company in the ‘East’ takes up a space mission. Technically, it isn’t possible in China, unless they usher in democratic reforms and privatisation :). Then again, who knows what’s going to happen in the next 50 years in Asia! That leaves India! Well, we are yet to put our first man out there! It’s still a long way to go.
