Xinhua, China’s state media, has reported recently that Beijing plans to land on the moon by the second half of 2013. This isn’t a surprise for China, who has had space ambitions that have placed taikonauts (Chinese word for astronauts) into space in a 13 man crew June of 2012,amongst them including the female People’s Liberation Army Major Liu Yang, the 56th woman in space. Beijing has also launched lunar probes in 2007 and 2010, Chang’e 1 and Chang’e 2, both named for the Chinese goddess of the moon.

It’s definitely going to be exciting when China gets on the moon, because we’ll finally get a chance to see if the American flag left by Neil Armstrong in 1969 says “made in China” on the label.