May work about as well as the Russian communist dictatorship did in taking mankind to new heights. No I'm not a Communist. But I think the centralized control of the Soviet empire made decisions to commit lots of resources to space less of an issue. Western democracy means a broad-based consensus on support for space must be reached.

I'm not saying the communist dictatorship in China doesn't need to build a consensus. But it's a much smaller group that has to be persuaded to make a commitment to space.

So I think it's easier for the Chinese to make bold moves on Lagrange than it is for the West. Easier politically. Like Mel Brooks says "It's good to be King!"

I also think you and the article have nailed it. Without some threat or competitor to react against the West falls back from the Moon and just goes round and round in circles. Sometimes the West goes nowhere fast. Sometimes it goes nowhere slowly. Doesn't really matter. Since Apollo the thrill has definitely been gone.

I hope China brings it all back. It's hard to unite the many democracies of Europe behind a major push for manned spaceflight. The difficulty in getting the many partners to agree on any big project of that sort is of course what killed Hermes. And America may be only one giant republic but it is a very big republic and has almost as much trouble getting everyone behind a big national project unless there's some "enemy" menacing it or a "War on ____" that needs waging.

China is just what America's space program needs! Kinda like the generals looking unhappy after the fall of the Soviet empire and grumbling "Guys we need a new Cold War!" At NASA someone should be saying "Guys we need a new Space Race!"