Venezuela agrees to join China’s lunar base projectDuring a visit to a new Chinese space facility in China, the head of Venezuela’s space agency announced that it has agreed to join China’s lunar base project.
Marglad Bencomo, executive director of the Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities (ABAE), visited China’s new, national Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) March 30 to discuss cooperation and exchanges. She was met by Wu Yanhua, former deputy director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and now executive vice chairman of DSEL. The two sides exchanged in-depth views on international cooperation in the field of deep space exploration, according to a DSEL statement.
Bencomo said that Venezuela was willing to sign a China-Venezuela Memorandum of Understanding as soon as possible to jointly promote the construction of international lunar research stations, according to the DSEL statement.
If this partnership agreement is signed, Venezuela would be the first nation outside of Russia to join China’s project. China has offered a similar partnership deal to Brazil, which will likely not agree because it is a signatory to the Artemis Accords and working with China will threaten any work it does with the U.S. For example, the UAE recently ended a project to fly a rover on a Chinese rocket for these very reasons.
This deal with Venezuela is largely empty blather, since Venezuela is presently a bankrupt communist state, barely able to feed its own people.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
During a visit to a new Chinese space facility in China, the head of Venezuela’s space agency announced that it has agreed to join China’s lunar base project.
Marglad Bencomo, executive director of the Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities (ABAE), visited China’s new, national Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) March 30 to discuss cooperation and exchanges. She was met by Wu Yanhua, former deputy director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and now executive vice chairman of DSEL. The two sides exchanged in-depth views on international cooperation in the field of deep space exploration, according to a DSEL statement.
Bencomo said that Venezuela was willing to sign a China-Venezuela Memorandum of Understanding as soon as possible to jointly promote the construction of international lunar research stations, according to the DSEL statement.
If this partnership agreement is signed, Venezuela would be the first nation outside of Russia to join China’s project. China has offered a similar partnership deal to Brazil, which will likely not agree because it is a signatory to the Artemis Accords and working with China will threaten any work it does with the U.S. For example, the UAE recently ended a project to fly a rover on a Chinese rocket for these very reasons.
This deal with Venezuela is largely empty blather, since Venezuela is presently a bankrupt communist state, barely able to feed its own people.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
“This deal with Venezuela is largely empty blather, since Venezuela is presently a bankrupt communist state, barely able to feed its own people.”
Okay, maybe the Chinese told the Venezuelans that the Moon is made of cheese.
So Venezuela has a space agency but its “economy” barely exists? I get very confused by the priorities of countries like that.
The priorities of Venezuela’s communist government make perfect sense. Garner power and wealth to those running the government, and let everyone else starve. Thus, creating a space agency with fake bureaucratic jobs for the government’s allies serves these goals perfectly.
Gosharoonie! Would a moon-capable rocket reach from Caracas to, say, Minneapolis? “So, solly! Clazy Venezuelans hit Twin City? No China circus, no China monkey.”
Gil Scott-Heron – Whitey On the Moon (Official Audio)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goh2x_G0ct4&ab_channel=AceRecords
Oh I hate that song! Now, China could prop them up in exchange for a pad or three and a free hand.