China Isn't Winning the Race for Space

By the middle of the century, nuclear-powered Chinese shuttles will regularly ply interplanetary space, carrying workers between mining colonies on distant planets and asteroids. If that, like much else published on the front page of the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party, sounds like propaganda, remember that China has in barely two decades built up what's arguably the world's second-most-advanced space program, after America's. U.S. strategists warn that Chinese progress in space could soon threaten U.S. military superiority globally.

It's important to remember something else important, too, though. When it comes to the commercial future of outer space, China isn't just competing against the U.S. or Russian government. The real race is against nimble private companies like Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and Blue Origin LLC -- and there, China's advantages are far less evident.