One Small Step For China

      Beijing - China's military-backed space program has made steady, slow progress. The Communist Chinese space program still lags far behind the United States and Communist Russia, in technology and experience. Chang'e 3, named after a mythical Chinese goddess of the moon, blasted off from southwest China on December 2nd, and landed on the moon on, December 14th. The event, which was partially shown on state-run China Central television, was the world's first soft-landing of a space probe on the moon in nearly four decades. Because the moon has no atmosphere you can't use parachutes. Landing on the moon requires rockets for the descent, and you have to go down at the right angle and rate of descent. See also, www.aviationweek.com.