throwaway123098

Also, Explorer 1 had scientific payload (which discovered the Van-Allen belts), unlike Sputnik

But we were not _really_ behind. We were about a year behind (if not less), and much was due to other American advantages: we didn't need huge rockets (which would launch humans into space) since American nuclear bombs were smaller.

The reason we don't hear much about China is because that don't do much:

Launch a man into space once a year? Land a rover on the Moon? That's 1960s news.

If it would be more serious, there would be a "Sputnik scare" like in the 60s, not silence

The Western world isn't falling behind. It's just not so push-over ahead.

What China is doing right now, the USSR did in the 1960s, and the US did in the 70s (it had a ten year detour to go to the moon first).

While NASA hasn't done anything innovative in manned space-flight since 1980 (sunk costs, politics, no _real_ need, etc), they've done crazy work with unmanned spacecraft.

Think landing a _car_ on Mars (and then driving it around), launching routine missions to outer planets (and beyond!), being the only agency to get a probe out of the solar system.

Honestly, if Congress ever feels it necessary to launch someone to the Moon, they'll get it done in less than a decade.