Emerging Space Race

On December 15th China completed their first soft landing on the surface of the moon, the Chang'e 3, and as become to third country in the world to soft land onto the moon, the other two being the US and Russia. China has not been the second country to get a man on the moon, as this landing is was unnamed and contained a rover to explore the surface of the moon. But this is still important as this is also been the first time a country has soft landed on the moon in almost forty years, the last being the Luna 24 launched by the Soviet Union in 1976 and the last manned moon landing was the Apollo 17 launched by the US in 1972.

For many years the US and Russia have been the leading nations when it has come to space flight, but recently China has been rising as a power in space among the other rising space faring nations in Asia. China's space program is ambitious, launching their first astronaut in 2003 and planing to establish their own space station in Earth's orbit by 2020. China also plans to have their own manned base on the moon, which is more possible after their successful soft landing.

China is not the only rising space power in Asia. China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and South Korea are all competing with each other to get the upper hand in space. Japan has launched cheaper rockets for satellites and this year South Korea has launched their first rocket into space. While this year India has their sights on a much farther target.

On November 5th, India launched a space craft headed to Mars and will land on the Red planet next September. If India's mission is successful, they will be the fourth space program to reach Mars, behind the US, Russia, and Europe. The craft is carrying an orbiter, that will orbit Mars and collect data and take pictures of the planet.

China and India have ambitious goals of their space programs and maybe their missions can push further exploration of our solar system and beyond.

Sources
China's Moon rover and Space Program
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/15/china-moon-rover-makes-tracks
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/20/china-jade-rabbit-rover-space-politics
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2013/12/14/chinas-space-agenda/
Asian Space Race
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-12-11/india-and-china-move-ahead-in-the-asian-space-race
India's Mission to Mars
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/01/india-mars-mission-mangalyaan-leaves-eath-orbit
Picture Source
Chang'e 3 Moon Rover-http://www.space.com/23997-nasa-spacecraft-china-moon-lander.html