Whitey not on the moon...

Back in 1969 a seminal hip hop group called The Last Poets released Whitey On The Moon. It was a reactionary piece that expressed the divisive nature of a society in which the American black man was still worrying about paying the rent, putting food on the table, or generally surviving the perils of daily existence - all whilst the lucky crackers at NASA were prancing about on the moon and talking about giant leaps for mankind.

Fast forward to 2008, though, and it seems that things may have changed a little bit - according to the scientists at NASA, at least. In an interview over at the BBC a NASA administrator by the name of Michael Griffith has put it forward that the next time man gets to place his flag on the the lunar surface it will have not fifty stars on it, but a mere five. In these ever changing times, it seems that The Last Poets would have to scribble out the 'whitey' from their lyric books and replace the word with a derogatory reference to the increasingly-affluent Chinese.

During an interview with the BBC News website during a visit to London, Griffin said: "Certainly it is possible that if China wants to put people on the Moon, and if it wishes to do so before the United States, it certainly can. As a matter of technical capability, it absolutely can."

His ideas all stem from the fact that China is only the third country ever to send a man into orbit, a feat that put the country in the history books in 2003. Though the Americans wish to send their next manned craft to the moon sometime circa 2020, it seems that the Chinese may be able to beat them to it. Sun Laiyan, chief of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), has even gone so far as to state that an eventual lunar excursion was inevitable.

Should the China actually manage to get to the moon before the Americans next do, it will be an event that serves as the perfect metaphor for the ways in which international power has changed hands and will be a perfect demonstration that man has entered the next stage of its development. No wonder Gordon Brown is so keen on becoming best friends with the Chinese government. Perhaps he really has seen the future...

Written by Oli Anderson on 15 Jul 2008 2:05 PM. Permalink