On September 27, 2008, Zhai Zhigang, wearing a Chinese-developed Feitian space suit, conducted a 20-minute spacewalk, the first ever for a Chinese astronaut. It is a great achievement for the Chinese. To me, the space project is a measure of science and technology know-how, as well as the ability to carry out large-scale logistics planning and process. The tolerance for errors is extremely low and it is a risky business to be in. Aside from these general observations, I, as a nobody civilian, do see two strikingly different features between the space programs run by the US and by the Chinese.
First, the Chinese space launch was not broadcast live and was quite secretive. Pictures and video footage were shown after the fact. In the wiki URL listed in the previous paragraph, you might find it interesting to see things live regarding the Associated Press' article on September 25, "China space mission article hits Web before launch". Some friends told me that not broadcasting live was to prevent possible mishaps and embarrassments. I assume that one would have enough time to come up with a reasonable explanation if any accidents happened. I suppose that more transparency will come later when the Chinese perfect the space mission projects some more. The fortunate part is that the spacewalk was broadcast live, although no one knew for sure until the very last minute. As far as I know, all US launches in the past were broadcast live. Once people got bored with the space program, the broadcasts were on lesser-known channels.
The second striking difference to me is that the operation is very much a military one, as opposed to a civilian or quasi-civilian operation - from the selection of the astronauts, the briefing and debriefing, and the homecoming ceremony. Supposedly, the astronauts were to be quarantined for two weeks for fear of viral or bacterial infections reported in the earlier news. Yet, they were paraded through part of the city in open-air caravan after they returned to Beijing Xi-Jiao military airport. Contradictions and inconsistencies are everywhere in China. You have to live with it.
It is my view that the Chinese space station and space shuttle projects are barely economically justifiable, other than from the political and military vantage points. The transfer of technology from space research to the improvement of people's daily lives is not easy to see. With the current infrastructure, I have serious doubts on how this can take place quickly without reasonable transparency and civilian counterparts in the development and transfer of space technology. Lot of work has to be done to make space station and space shuttle projects economically viable.
On a more serious note, I do think that the moon project is very questionable economically other than to show off an ego of a nation or a party. I recall that many physicists were out driving cabs in Houston in the early 1970's after the moon landing project was over. Economically, there were no foreseeable benefits to continue on any project focusing on the moon itself.
During the cold war, the moon project was an important and visible milestone for the space race between the US and the USSR. It was probably essential to win the race for the US, otherwise we probably would have a Big Brother watching over us like that of "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell. Some felt that the space race caused a serious drain economically both in the US and in the USSR.
