Continuing its bold space plans, China has unveiled a five-year
white paper that calls for putting astronauts on the moon, which
would make it the first nation to visit since the U.S. last set
foot there some 40 years ago. "China will conduct studies on the
preliminary plan for a human lunar landing," the State Council
white paper says, also calling for deep-space exploration of
planets and asteroids. It does not give a timeline for the
moonshot, but is seen as an official declaration of China's
lunar goals. The plans come as U.S. manned spaceflight is on
hold, with NASA's space shuttle fleet retired and International
Space Station missions dependent on Russian rockets. While
President George W. Bush called for a return to the moon by
2020, President Obama canceled the program due to high costs but
has proposed sending Americans to an asteroid by 2025. China is
building its own prototype space station, the Tiangong 1, before
construction of a Mir-class station. It has already mapped the
moon with the Chang'e-