China to dominate space----Russia may also----Meanwhile Shuttle in Museum thanks to Obama/Bush

While Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has been the subject of criticism and even satire for his comments about establishing a permanent lunar base (as the first step to what eventually could be statehood for a lunar settlement), the former Speaker of the House doesn’t appear to be backing down from those statements. In an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, host David Gregory asked Gingrich (after showing a brief clip of the “Saturday Night Live” sketch inspired by Gingrich’s comments) if those topics “ultimately hurts your seriousness” in the campaign. Gingrich disagreed. “Every serious analyst understands that the Chinese are going all out to dominate space, the Russians today have the only man-rated vehicle available to the United States in space,” he said. “I didn’t propose any additional federal spending, I proposed a fundamental reform of NASA to engage the private sector in very bold and very dramatic ventures.”