Under a Chinese Moon

Want to hear a piece of utter non-news? The U.S. is sending an unmanned spacecraft to the moon this month. Want to hear a piece of very big news? China is sending an unmanned spacecraft to the moon this year. That expedition is huge, even cosmically game changing. More to the point, it's perfectly legit to respond to such similar missions in such dissimilar ways.

It's not just that the U.S. has launched missions like this many times before and China hasn't. And it's not just that the American ship is a...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!