Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

116 reMeMBerING the SpaCe aGe
so far, we will see again that nations look up to other nations
that appear to be at the top of the technical pyramid, and they
want to do deals with those nations. It’s one of the things that
made us the world’s greatest economic power. So I think we’ll
be instructed in that lesson in the coming years.
Grifn concluded, “I hope that americans will take that instruction privately and
react to it by investing in those things that are the leading edge of what’s possible.” 13
Whether there was a political design behind Grifn’s seemingly impromptu
comment was immediately debated. Some commentators thought what the
NaSa administrator said was a good thing, because it could possibly spur the
United States into a more aggressive stance on space exploration—read “Mars.”
Others felt Grifn’s comment to be highly lamentable. One representative of
the U.S.’s burgeoning private space industry ofered a strongly negative opinion:
“those who have given up have already failed. It’s clearly time for new
leadership if (Grifn) believes what he said. to suggest that a program that
plans to outspend China by more than 10 to 1 can’t beat their space program
hands-down practically defnes pathetic.” 14 More considered opinions regarded
Grifn’s assessment to be totally genuine, not cynical, and stemming not just
from the early momentum of Chinese achievements in space or its grand statements
of space ambitions but from what Grifn and company personally heard
and saw on their historic visit to China a year earlier.
a third book fundamental to understanding the evolution of the Chinese
national identity, and placing the contemporary Chinese space program into a
deeper and richer cultural perspective, is A Nation-State by Construction: Dynamics
of Modern Chinese Nationalism (2004), by Suisheng Zhao, the executive Director
at the Center for China-U.S. Cooperation at the University of Denver’s Graduate
School of International Studies. Zhao’s thesis is that Chinese leadership in the
1990s abandoned Marxism for “pragmatic nationalism,” which author Zhao
13. Grifn’s speech was reproduced in its entirety under the title “america Will Not Like It,” New
Atlantis No. 18 (Fall 2007): 128-30.
14. See comment from Stephen Metschan from September 17, 2007, published at http://www.
spacepolitics.com/2007/09/17/grifn-china-will-beat-us-to-the-moon/. Metschan is associated with
DIreCt v2.0, an alternative approach to launching missions planned under NaSa’s VSe
program. the idea behind the DIreCt is to replace the separate ares-I Crew Launch
Vehicle (CLV) and ares-V Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV) with one single “Jupiter” launcher
capable of performing both roles. Metschan is also founder and president of TeamVision
Corp, developer of the FrameworkCT, a new class of business intelligence software focused
on improving the early decision-making process in large and complex organizations. prior
to founding teamVision, Metschan worked for Boeing on advanced engineering projects
for NaSa for over ten years. his primary focus was on the integration of analysis, design,
manufacturing, fnance, and marketing teams into a cohesive team framework to enhance
the understanding of problems and their solutions for advanced space vehicle systems. he
earned a B.S in mechanical engineering in 1989 from the University of portland.