ИСТИНА

The 20th century was marked with rivalry boosted by the USSR and America in outer space amid the Cold War stance. Having started with the launch of the first satellites Sputnik 1 (1957) and Explorer 1 (1958) correspondently the opponents’ space programs then evolved into full-fledged space activities. The time passed by, space technologies proved to be the means of both hard and soft power – the axiom born in the minds of those having been in the shadows of the bipolar world order for about 40 years. Today we are witnessing the surge of interest to the political, economic and socio-cultural rise of the Asian region. But what lacks elaboration is the posture of the Asian countries’ space programs and signs of regional geopolitical competition shifting into the outer space dimension. However, experts assume that time is ripe for China, India, Japan and a number other states to benefit from being emerging spacefaring nations. In this context the author of the presentation will attempt to analyze the evidence of the forthcoming space race in Asia, probable dyads of rivalry (China-India, North Korea-South Korea, etc.) and threats these may pose to the global security.