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Visitors view a simulated rocket launch on display at an exhibition featuring space science and achievement during the China Space Conference in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on April 24. Photo: Xinhua via AP
OpinionLetters

Letters | Can US-China-Russia competition over the moon remain peaceful?

  • Previous cooperation in space was possible because no territory was at stake. The lunar ambitions of the three space powers have raised the stakes
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I have noticed that we Russians cooperated with the Americans in the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975 after their defeat in Vietnam, and on the International Space Station in the 1990s, after ours in Afghanistan.

I suspect that that was possible because there was no territory to fight for on an orbit. Now the US, Russia and China are eyeing the moon exactly as Great Britain, Spain and France were eyeing the American continent five centuries ago.

But in the space race, it’s eventually bound to be every country for itself (“Lift-off for China’s Tiangong Space Station ambitions”, April 29).
We have a shot at avoiding lunar wars if only one country can provide regular trips there and back. Naturally I sincerely hope that country will be Russia. Moreover, Russian President Vladimir Putin has already hinted that we will find water on the moon.

Mergen Mongush, Moscow

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