China and Russia to establish Lunar Base

It’s early stages yet, they haven’t even decided if that means a station permanently orbiting the moon or a base on the surface. I think they should go for both, because that would be the coolest option, but I suppose a base on the surface would be the second coolest option, because I’m envisioning domed cities with drip hydroponic gardens forming little tropical paradises spreading across the lunar surface, rather than the spartan (picture Antarctica – and then remember that the moon is almost 400,000 kilometers further than that, wherever you are on Earth) accommodations which they’ll probably be, at least at first.
If its a surface base, they are considering the region around the Moon’s south pole.
In any event, it’s good news. After the Challenger disaster, the U.S., it seems, has basically given up on space but I am glad others are starting to pick up the slack. Russia, of course, has always been a leader in space. Sputnik, Gagarin, Tereshnikova, etc…and today they are in control of the International Space Station. If American astronauts want to go up, they have to train at and launch from Star City.
Maybe competition from Russia, China, and Elon Musk will convince the U.S. to get their butt in gear. Maybe not. Either way, the human race is making strides in space, and that is a good thing. That is a very good thing.