Today the Chinese are reaching for the moon. The first step, the launching of an unmanned lunar orbiter, is tentatively scheduled for April 17. A three-man mission will orbit the Earth later this year, and a spacewalk is planned for next year. Two years after that, the plan is to put down a lunar rover, followed in 2020 by a craft that will collect lunar samples and bring them home. Eventually Beijing wants to put people on the moon, although the target date remains undisclosed. "Their timetable is absolutely realistic," says Jim Benson, president of SpaceDev, a private space-exploration company in Poway, Calif. "Some of it actually seems a little conservative."

National pride is a big force behind China's moon program, but not the only one. The Chinese are aiming to do more than "just set up a flag or pick up a piece of rock," says Ye Zili of China's Space Science Society. What are they after? A limitless source of clean, safe energy to feed their voracious economy.

from an article posted on msnbc.com and picked up by the China Digital Times

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