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  • In case there was any doubt over whether China did send a spacecraft to the moon, the lunar

  • rover has now begun sending back photos.

  • Chinese state media have released these pictures taken by the spacecraft's rover, dubbed Jade

  • Rabbit. (Via CNTV)

  • And they probably won't be the last we see. The rover is to stay on the moon's surface,

  • collecting samples for the next three months. (Via ITN)

  • China made history over the weekend when it became the first country since 1976 to land

  • a spacecraft on the moon. Only the U.S. and the former Soviet Union had also completed

  • a lunar landing. (Via NASA)

  • While China's leaders and media hailed the mission as a success, critics were quick to

  • dismiss the achievement.

  • The Economist wrote, "China is busy re-living the past for much the same reasons that America

  • and the Soviet Union lived it the first time round. ... The future lies elsewhere."

  • But China's space program and the progress it's made is now hard to ignore. Since it

  • sent its first astronaut into space in 2003, China's conducted 18 different space launches.

  • And The Wall Street Journal notes China's space ambitions are as much strategic as they

  • are scientific: "Beijing has also used its space capabilities to develop a carrier-killer:

  • the antiship ballistic missile ... Space is the perfect environment for asymmetric warfare,

  • which is central to Beijing's military strategy."

  • China plans to launch its own permanent space station by 2020 — the same year funding

  • stops for the International Space Station. (Via The Guardian)

  • Though should China want to remain a part of the space race, it will have to fend off

  • competition from India's aggressive space program, which sent an unmanned mission to

  • Mars earlier this month. (Via Space.com)

  • Not to mention, the growing list of private companies trying to reach the final frontier.

  • (Via Fox News)

  • By the way, the name of China's spacecraft, Jade Rabbit, was chosen in an online poll.

  • It comes from the name of a moon goddess' pet in Chinese mythology.

In case there was any doubt over whether China did send a spacecraft to the moon, the lunar

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