Our pals at io9 have a great post handicapping the likely candidates for the second country (or private entity) to put an astronaut on the moon. I was very interested because, of course, I’m currently sweating out The Next Continent by Issui Ogawa, a novel about a ten-year moon colony project.
Ogawa has picked a horse in this international space race and it’s…care to guess? Nope, not Japan, but China! The Next Continent begins with our heroes visiting a somewhat haphazardly maintained Chinese moon base after buying tickets on a Chang’e spacecraft. But then, of course…nope! The US! They open up “Liberty City”, after being inspired to rejoin the space race. (It’s not really a city though—that’s just political spin.) Well then, certainly…nope! Private enterprise, albeit a Japanese firm, they’re the ones who finally open up a lunar leisure center you’ll have to read about to believe. Be sure to check out The Next Continent this spring, if you’re looking to make any off-world travel plans in, say, 2035.