China lands on the moon while we struggle to leave Earths' orbit.

via AP.

BEIJING (AP) -- China on Saturday successfully carried out the world's first soft landing of a space probe on the moon in nearly four decades, state media said, the next stage in an ambitious space program that aims to eventually put a Chinese astronaut on the moon.
The unmanned Chang'e 3 lander, named after a mythical Chinese goddess of the moon, touched down on Earth's nearest neighbor following a 12-minute landing process.
The probe carried a six-wheeled moon rover called "Yutu," or "Jade Rabbit," the goddess' pet. After landing Saturday evening on a fairly flat, Earth-facing part of the moon, the rover was slated to separate from the Chang'e eight hours later and embark on a three-month scientific exploration.
China's space program is an enormous source of pride for the country, the third to carry out a lunar soft landing - which does not damage the craft and the equipment it carries - after the United States and the former Soviet Union. The last one was by the Soviet Union in 1976.

Even the doubters have to be reaching a point where even they cannot deny the obvious.

However China is obtaining this tech, they're rapidly approaching a point of equality and are on a trajectory of superiority within a decade at best.

Every estimate of how long it would take them to achieve certain technological feats has been off.  Quite frankly the only thing that could slow their inevitable rise and challenge to US military superiority is a world wide economic slowdown.

Isn't that ironic.

National survival (such as it is) might depend on a global recession that is deep and will cause irreparable harm to individual families. We do live in interesting times.