Chang'e 2 Encounters Toutatis

Chang'e 2 is the second spacecraft sent to the Moon by China, but it has become much more than that.  After successfully completing its lunar mission, it was sent out to the Earth-Sun L2 point, where the gravitational influences of the Earth and the Sun balance, to test China's ability to operate in deep space.  That, too, was a success.  Then, China set the probe on a course to rendezvous with the asteroid Toutatis.  According to the official Chinese news agency, the probe accomplished that last week, flying within two miles of the asteroid.

The travels of Chang'e 2 reveal an extremely confident and sophisticated Chinese space capability.  China is doing things early on that the United States and the Soviet Union took years to try.  Of course, that's part of the point.  Americans and Soviets worked out how to operate in space, and now China, and other nations as well as private groups, are executing.  That said, the flight of Chang'e 2 is a remarkable achievement.