US scientists fear history may be repeating itself. Fifty years after the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union, The US is again scrambling to catch up, but this time to an area a little farther south. The space programs of China, Japan, and India are modest, but rapidly growing. Both China and India are planning manned lunar missions within the next decade, whereas the US said they do not plan on returning until 2020.
One contributing factor to this is the amount of young scientists in Asian countries. In 2004, around 500,000 engineers graduated in China, 200,000 in India, and ony 70,000 in America. "Although many people assume that the US will always be a world leader in science and technology, this may not continue to be the case, we fear the abruptness with which a lead in science and techology can be lost-and the difficulty of recovering a lead once lost, if indeed it can be regained at all."-Author of the report "Rising Abover the Gathering Storm".
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