We who grew up in the time of the Apollo missions are more than aware of the arms-race angle to the Soviet and American forays into Earth orbit and beyond.
Now, we must recognize that the space race is no longer mere ornamentation over earthly military competition.
“The United States and China are rapidly building space warfare capabilities,” writes Bill Gertz in the Washington Examiner, “as part of a race to dominate the zone outside Earth’s atmosphere.”
Of course, much of this remains ground support. WHNT News 19 in Alabama quotes the Commander of the U.S. Space and Missile Defense Command at Redstone Arsenal – a Lieutenant General who “will soon become Deputy Commander of the US Space Command in Colorado” – explaining that current space resources must be ever-ready in support of “the war fighter, the soldier on the ground.”