Is China planning a moon mission?

I was recently told that China is planning a trip to the Moon. Does anyone have details about this? Are there any other countries planning a similar mission? What are the implications of any one nation gaining control of the Moon? This was intended as a question only,but as I wrote it out I wondered about the long-term political and strategic implications..and I'd like to know what the rest of you think.
THANX FOR YOUR IMPUT!

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[edit on 21-7-2006 by pantha]

Yes I think it is scheduled for either 2010 or 2015 I forgot which of those years.

Indeed they are. The chinese space program is very ambitious and hopefully will trigger increased endeavours from the US and others.


news.bbc.co.uk...

India has talked about the moon as well and is actually sending a probe there as early as 2008. Well as they say... The more the merrier.

It seems that American nervous about everything
Is that called heebie-jeebies?

I’m actually hoping that China can provide the competition need to kick start the US space program again. There was one reason above all others for the tremendous achievements accomplished during the Cold War (in terms of space exploration) and that is competition. If China starts getting ambitious in space others will follow suit, and again we’ll just have to outdo everyone by going to Mars.

I too hope that competition in space will compel us to ramp up space exploration. I also agree that Americans ARE nervous about everything! I'm just trying to think ahead to the next steps that involve corporations and global politics. What happens if a country puts a weapons platform in orbit or on the Moon? Will counties outright " colonize " and control sections of the Moon? Does that give a country all of the rights to the natural resources within that territory? I want to see what folks are thinking. This may require a new thread. I'll see what developes here.If you're interested in this topic and would like to see a more specific thread on this subject,please let me know.
Cosmo Dag

This is good.

We will actually find out answers about the dark side of the moon and possible ancient structures which are alledgedly present.

Either that or the covert NASA program has a lot of cleaning up to do on the moon´s surface before 2010.

Let´s see NASA try and censor the Chinese when they start broadcasting footage from orbit.

Yeah we may be able to finally put these theories at rest once and for all, we can ask the Chinese to go visit our flag too so the moon landing hoax theory can also die once and for all.