China's Chang'e-1 Impacts Moon

China's lunar probe Chang'e-1 impacted the surface of the Moon Sunding ending a 16-month mission after being launched into space on Oct. 24, 2007. This was the first phase of China's three-stage moon mission, which will lead to a landing and launch of a rover vehicle around 2012. In the third phase, another rover will land on the moon and bring back mineral samples for scientific research in 2017 [video].

Beijing officials have said the country is looking to eventually put astronauts on the moon, but the government has not announced any schedule for that task. American space officials have told the US Congress that the Chinese may be on the surface of the moon prior to an American human return prior to 2020. There are also MIT proposals for American-Chinese space cooperation beyond data sharing.