THE NEW SPACE RACE

The space flight race began in the 1960s, when two world superpowers, the former Soviet
Union and the United States, staged a fierce duel for space leadership. At this time, the
world is moving towards a new world order with three superpowers and a diffuse but
increasingly powerful group of billionaires who control the corporate fabric, which are the
new competitors in this space race.
The first objective for private entrepreneurs is to reduce the cost of space travel by building
reusable rockets. As a result, a battle has been created to make space profitable and then
conquer it. From my point of view, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are spending considerable
amounts of money to develop space tourism and obtain returns from human settlements
on the Moon or on Mars. And it’s no joke, because the world’s most powerful rocket, Falcon
Heavy, is owned by a private company (Spacex).
On the other hand, it is also known that India, China, Russia, Japan and Europe already have
plans to bring human and other missions to the moon. And while all this is planned I’m just
asking the question, what will be the new phrase that replaces that famous line said by Neil
Armstrong when he stepped on the lunar surface “ That's one small step for a man, one
giant leap for mankind ”.

Ramiro Morales

Source The Economist

Vocable English n°773