[frakturfreund]

The NASA went to the moon because the russians wanted to do it. Today's space exploration is shaped by cooperation, but sometimes a little bit of competition is needed to achive great thinks.

This is why i'm really hoping for the chinese to announce a manned mission to mars. It's the red planet afterall ;), and this could be a modern sputnik shock for the NASA.

[drjesusphd]

Sputnik had military implications. Going to Mars doesn't.

[frakturfreund]

That’s a valid point. But Sputnik had also a component of harmed pride (›most advanced nation‹); at least this should be reproducible.