The new space race

This image taken by the rover Jade Rabbit and photographed off the screen at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center shows the Chang’e-3 moon lander.  (Wang Jianmin / Associated Press)

The Chang’e-3 rocket carrying the Jade Rabbit rover blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwest province of Sichuan on Dec. 2.   (STR / AFP/Getty Images)

A man checks out the front page of a local newspaper with images of China’s Chang’e-3 spacecraft landing on the moon.   (Rolex Dela Pena / EPA)

A handout photo released by the European Space Agency on Dec. 19 shows the launch of a Soyuz rocket carrying the agency’s $1.3-billion satellite Gaia from French Guiana. The satellite will provide precise measurements of about 1 billion stars in the Milky Way.   (Stephane Corvaja / AFP/Getty Images)

An Indian rocket carrying the nation’s first Martian rover blasts off from Sriharikota. It left Earth’s orbit Dec. 1.   (ISRO / AFP/Getty Images)

Indian Space Research Organization engineers stand next to models of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket, left, and the Mars orbiter. Besides the Martian mission, India has sent a probe to the moon and plans to send a second one by 2017.  (Aijaz Rahi / Associated Press)

U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong stands on the lunar surface during the Apollo 11 mission. Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon, and fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin was the second. In a recent interview, Aldrin said U.S. officials lack leadership in space exploration.  (Buzz Aldrin / Associated Press)