Hopefully things like the Chinese and Indians planning manned missions will give the western world the kick in the ass it needs to start spending decent amounts of money on space. Otherwise, these 'developing' nations will have prime permanent bases, reaping the resources of the solar system, and having populations spread throughout the system. Meanwhile, western civilization stagnates back here on little old Earth because they were too worried about having a few astronauts die despite the fact they volunteered knowing the risks.
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Hopefully things like the Chinese and Indians planning manned missions will give the western world the kick in the ass it needs to start spending decent amounts of money on space. Otherwise, these 'developing' nations will have prime permanent bases, reaping the resources of the solar system, and having populations spread throughout the system. Meanwhile, western civilization stagnates back here on little old Earth because they were too worried about having a few astronauts die despite the fact they volunteered knowing the risks.