The same kind of "deleveraging" that crippled credit markets also is slamming billionaires, chief executives, and other well-heeled investors where it hurts. After borrowing to buy stock, an unprecedented number of executives are being forced to sell off their holdings at steep discounts.

So far in October, almost $1.24 billion in stock has been sold by CEOs and other executives to cover debts, according to Ben Silverman, director of research at InsiderScore.com, which monitors SEC filings. Another $250 million in stock sales may also be related to so-called margin calls—when lenders force the sale of stock to cover debts.

Adding insult to injury, these stocks are being unloaded at what may be the worst possible time—when a typical equity has lost more than a third of its value this year.

The point was driven home on Tuesday, Oct. 21, when billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. disclosed it sold off 7.3 million shares in Ford Motor (F) and may sell the rest of its stake in the automaker. Originally valued at almost $1 billion, Kerkorian's stake has lost more than two-thirds of its value as Ford's stock price has plummeted. It closed Tuesday at 2.17 a share, down 7% for the day. Though the exact reasons for Kerkorian's sale aren't clear, he had borrowed $600 million to buy the Ford stake and recently needed to use casino holdings to back that debt.

Kerkorian Has Plenty of Company

All in all, it's been a bad month for billionaires.

First Sumner Redstone, chairman of Viacom (VIAB) and CBS (CBS), sold $233 million in stock to help cover a loan. Then John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media (LCAPA), sold $49.5 million in stock to pay back a loan to Bank of America (BAC).

Chesapeake Energy (CHK) Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon may be the worst hit by this sort of stock squeeze. As Chesapeake's stock surged higher, the firm's enthusiastic founder borrowed to buy more and more shares. That worked until the middle of 2008: Since the beginning of July, Chesapeake shares have slid almost 65%. From Oct. 8-10, McClendon was forced to unload $569 million in his company's stock, or 94% of his stake in the firm, to cover those debts.

"The CEOs have been dreadfully surprised—just like the rest of the world," says Rawley Thomas of the Financial Management Association, an organization of financial professionals and academics.

U.S. stocks fell to their lowest levels in more than five years Wednesday amid more volatility and worries about a serious economic slowdown not only in the U.S. but worldwide.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 514.45 points, or 5.69%, to 8,519.21. The broad S&P 500 shed 58.27 points, or 6.1%, to 896.78. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 80.93 points, or 4.77%, to end at 1,615.75.

In recent trading sessions, stocks appeared to be digging out of the deep hole they had excavated in September and early October. But at Wednesday's close the S&P 500 plunged to a new low for the year, a level it has not seen since April 2003.

"This is a market that is leaving most people without words for description," says Chris Johnson of Johnson Research Group. On Wednesday, there was more evidence that the credit crunch, which caused so much concern in the past month, was easing slightly. However, "the market doesn't have any shortage of things to worry about," Johnson says.

Among the alarming developments Wednesday were signs that the world's worst financial crisis in 80 years is hammering emerging markets. That prompted emergency central bank moves and calls for international help to curb investor flight. Reuters reported emerging market stocks, sovereign debt and currencies all came under intense pressure as investors unwound funding positions amid worries about the deteriorating world economy.

Hungary ratcheted up interest rates by three full points to defend its currency. Belarus's central bank said it had requested credit from the International Monetary Fund and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said she expected her country would receive "substantial" financial aid from the IMF next week. The IMF is also ready to help Pakistan, which needs funds to avoid a balance of payments crisis, and Iceland, driven close to bankruptcy as frozen credit markets caused its banks to fail.

Hemmed in by the global financial squeeze and commodities slump, Argentina's leftist government has seemingly found a novel way to find the money to stay afloat: cracking open the piggy bank of the nation's private pension system, according to a Wall Street Journal dispatch. The government proposed to nationalize the private pensions, which would provide it with much of the cash it needs to meet debt payments and avoid a second default this decade.

Reflecting worries about the world economy, commodity prices continued to slide Wednesday. On the NYMEX, crude oil dropped $4.80, or 6.65%, to $67.38. The Energy Dept.'s weekly report showed that crude oil inventories rose 3.2 million barrels, above analysts' forecast of a rise of 2.9 million barrels. Many traders worry the world is headed into a severe recession that will reduce demand for all commodities, fears that overshadow OPEC's emergency meeting in Vienna on Friday, where the cartel is expected to cut output 1 million barrels.

"The market is trying to assess how deep this global recession is going to be," says Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners. While lower oil prices may be good for U.S. consumers, falling commodities hurt emerging economies that have been an engine of global growth in recent years, he says.

December gold futures sank $37 to $731 per ounce as the dollar index soared against most currencies on foreign bank demand.

One out of every five college-educated immigrants in the United States is either unemployed or working in an unskilled job such as a dishwasher, fast food restaurant cashier or security guard, depriving the U.S. economy of the full potential of more than 1.3 million foreign-born workers, according to a study released today.

Wachovia Posts Largest-Ever Loss for a Bank

Wachovia posted a $23.9 billion quarterly loss, as its portfolio of loans deteriorated and deposits fled the bank, laying bare the serious financial straits the company was in before Wells Fargo announced it would buy it this month.

FINANCIAL MARKET SUMMARY
Symbol Lookup: Companies & Funds

ALEJANDRO INGELMO
A fourth-generation shoemaker puts real soul in his soles.

"This was the flagship store," says Alejandro Ingelmo, flipping through an album of old black-and-white photographs of his family's shoe business in Cuba. "I look at it today and say, 'I want this.' " Ingelmo's designs—from sexy, high-concept stilettos with names such as "Terminator" to pretty pastel flats to men's metallic snakeskin sneakers—are a far cry from the sturdy wingtips on which his grandfather built an empire in pre-Castro Havana. But this tattooed designer's sole ambition is the same.

Ingelmo didn't always know he'd follow so literally in the footsteps of his forefathers (his great-grandfather was a cobbler in Spain). After the 34-year-old arrived in New York four years ago, he enrolled in interior design at Parsons. While there, Ingelmo took a shoemaking class, and his DNA caught up with him. He left school and started his collection, which was quickly picked up by Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, and Jeffrey New York. And the rest—like his family's fabled past—is history.

OBEDIENT SONS AND DAUGHTERS
A husband-and-wife design duo keeps its nouveau-preppy suiting all in the family.

The Hutson family history goes like this: Swaim, a 39-year-old North Carolina native, started a small men's line called Obedient Sons (named after a book about youth culture in America from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries) in 2002, when he was living in San Francisco. After meeting Christina, 30, in Manhattan in 2003, he moved the company there. The two were married, and soon enough they had a daughter—a sweet little girl named Lowe—and the sister line to Sons, called Daughters. So it truly is, as the Hutsons say, a mom-and-pop operation.

The two, who live in a lower Manhattan loft (where Christina tie-dyes outfits for the baby), have firmly established their look of high-waisted trousers and long blazers (for the ladies) and tapered suit trousers for men. But for spring, they ventured into pieces like pretty lace dresses and wide, wide, wide palazzo pants. "I naturally do hippie," says Christina, who grew up in the Pennsylvania countryside. That explains the counterculture slogans, like TURN ON, TUNE IN, DROP OUT, embroidered on jackets. "And he naturally goes really preppy." See the pleated linen pants (Swaim read GQ and idolized eighties tennis players like John McEnroe and Mats Wilander). "Then we combine it, and…surprise!"

IRENE NEUWIRTH
The free-spirited jeweler spreads her enthusiasm for colorful gems across the country.

She had just put on a show with her fellow Fashion Fund finalists in Pebble Beach, California, when Irene Neuwirth was approached by a woman from the audience who said, "I met you in San Francisco." Irene's reply: "I know! You bought those pink opal earrings." It's an enthusiasm for her customers (and a "scary" photographic memory) that allows Neuwirth, who's on the road 90 percent of the year meeting customers at trunk shows, to have that kind of dedication. Or what about the fact that at Pebble Beach, a key part of the Fashion Fund competition, she might have been more nervous about delivering a stunning rose-cut diamond engagement ring to an old friend who was ready to propose to a very chic young fashion editor?

Neuwirth, 33, began her line about eight years ago, and it was immediately in Barneys New York. It's an extravagant-looking (but not outrageously expensive) collection. Case in point: her dramatic fringed necklace. "I thought to myself, What can we do with these tiny 5-mm. moonstones?" says the vivacious jeweler, who swims in the ocean every morning and skateboards to her office in Venice Beach. "I decided to go crazy and drape them everywhere!" And then, just for fun, she added even tinier diamonds.

VENA CAVA
Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock become second-time finalists, bringing their brand of hip elegance along for the ride.

Why was there a huge pile of shoes at Vena Cava's spring presentation? It was a real jumble: lace-up pumps, studded-toe mules, strappy sandals with block heels. There was plenty of symbolism in their latest women's clothing collection's—a "celestial sportswear" ode to Egyptology—being staged on models steps away from this funny installation (fitting for their location, the Chelsea Art Museum). But the most meaningful symbol, in terms of how far the two have come, was right there in that heap. The Southern California natives, who met right before their freshman year at Parsons, set up shop together in Brooklyn, and their eclectic designs gained a following of earthy-cool girls. They were Fashion Fund finalists last year and landed a plum collaboration job (think Thom Browne for Brooks Brothers, Derek Lam and Tod's) with Via Spiga.

Another benefit of the Fund? "Meeting other young designers and joining that community," Lisa Mayock says. "We're all doing this crazy thing," continues Sophie Buhai. Which comes in handy when you need day-to-day advice, or just someone to cohost your Fashion Week after-party. Mayock and Buhai put on theirs with Sam Shipley and Jeff Halmos (who won the 2005 Fashion Fund Award when they were part of Trovata). Their hilarious invitation pictured the dainty beauties getting rowdy with the prepsters and pretending to down tall boys of Bud Light. They cheekily served the beer alongside pizza at their rooftop bash, which fellow 2007 Fund alum Scott Sternberg of Band of Outsiders was dashing up the stairs with actress Kirsten Dunst to get to.

JUAN CARLOS OBANDO
An advertising genius takes on a second job: totally self-taught designer of inventive dresses.

Say you are a creative director at an advertising firm who decides to try fashion photography on the side. How to get the beautiful dresses you want to shoot? Make them yourself! Los Angeles designer Juan Carlos Obando taught himself just how to do that by deconstructing an Alaïa jacket, a Chanel suit, and a pair of Gucci trousers (vintage he got from Cameron Silver at Decades) and stitching them back together. And as if that weren't ambitious enough, he learned sewing techniques from the instructions that came with McCall patterns. His task took about three months, and during that time, "suddenly, photography vanished, and fashion took over."

During the day, the 31-year-old Obando works—à la Mad Men—in a Century City high-rise conceiving digital-ad campaigns for the likes of Toyota's Scion and Sony Pictures. He's even used this expertise to create a chic hair-care brand called No. 4 (instant show sponsor!). But after hours—sometimes at his firm's mile-long conference table—he has been designing romantic, intricately pleated pieces, like the chiffon blouse he paired with slouchy trousers in his spring show. "The front of the pants was a size 13," says the Colombia native in his self-taught-tailor's speak. "But the back was a size 2—and it was hot!"

ALEXANDER WANG
The good-time guy is a whiz at cool-girl urban dressing.

At the end of his spring show, Alexander Wang did not take a sober bow. He did not do the old "aw shucks" routine with a half wave and a shy smile before disappearing backstage. The 24-year-old designer exuberantly skipped out on the runway as if it were the dance floor at the Lower East Side club the Annex, which he and his tribe of friends had commandeered. He had one hand on his hip, the other in the air, and spun in a way that said, "That's it! Wasn't it fun?"

The San Francisco native started his knitwear line as a sophomore at Parsons (he did internships at Derek Lam, Marc Jacobs, Vogue, and Teen Vogue). In 2007 he made it a full line of women's ready-to-wear, added some extreme shoes, and now has a T-shirt collection called T by Alexander Wang. "Fashion shouldn't be so intimidating," says Wang, sitting in his airy new offices in lower Manhattan. "You can do something directional that's still approachable and attainable." For spring, this means Miami Vice-meets-South Beach Deco pastels and athletic jersey inspired by everything from the Olympics to the wild college-spring-break culture. "It's for a girl who's provocative, who dresses as if she just threw her look together." Kind of like his friends the street-cool model Erin Wasson and the Euro It-girl Alice Dellal, with her punky haircut and nose ring. "She's a little rough around the edges." And surely one who, like Wang, knows how to have fun.

ALBERTUS SWANEPOEL
With his smart hats, fashion's favorite milliner is turning heads.

"Christian Lacroix," remembers Albertus Swanepoel, "said that the hat is the dot on the i." Swanepoel is seated in his midtown Manhattan studio, surrounded by his remarkable handiwork—beribboned felt fedoras, demure cloches, chic straw toppers. Seeing the milliner, who designs for both men and women, in his element and hearing him relate that charming adage, one is suddenly struck by a novel idea: We should all be wearing more hats!

Swanepoel, who designed an acclaimed clothing collection in his native South Africa, was a glovemaker after he came to New York in 1989. To supplement that line during the warmer months, he took millinery classes at FIT (he trained with Janine Galimard, who had worked with Balenciaga and the famous New York milliner Tatiana du Plessix). His collection Albertus Swanepoel is available at stores like Barneys New York, Louis Boston, and Paul Smith, and Swanepoel has become the man designers go to for their runway chapeaux (see Proenza Schouler's superdirectional beaver cloches from fall 2007, this autumn's feathered riding fedoras at Carolina Herrera, and fellow Fashion Fund finalist Alexander Wang's latex caps for spring).

The soft-spoken designer jokingly calls hats the "orphan" accessories and isn't sure they'll ever become de rigueur the way they were during the first half of last century. But his designs are certainly enough to convince us they should. After all, who doesn't dot her i's?

RICHARD CHAI
This young industry vet has had a hand in some major designers' collections. Now he's perfecting his own.

How's this for a résumé? Before launching his women's collection four years ago, Richard Chai interned at Geoffrey Beene under then-design assistant Alber Elbaz. After graduating from Parsons, Chai studied in Paris and sketched for Lanvin (pre-Elbaz). He went on to become an assistant designer at Armani Exchange, then a designer at DKNY. As Marc Jacobs's design director, he launched the Marc by Marc Jacobs men's collection before becoming creative design director at Tse. Phew—try reciting that back!

"I always had the dream of having my own line," Chai says, taking a break from preparing his spring collection. "But I think it was important for me to gain that knowledge, to learn those things it takes to become a designer." Chai is very conscious of what he absorbed at each job (Alber taught him integrity and how to truly craft clothes, Donna about a woman's form, Marc how to put a fresh spin on something already familiar). Everything has in some way informed his own "deceptively simple" work, whether it was Chai's hand-sewn, origami-patterned pieces in his debut or tailored-yet-diaphanous ones in an "optimistic" color palette in his spring show. In the audience? Two-time Fashion Fund nominee Phillip Lim, who, even though his own show was a mere two hours later, had come to see his friend Richie's collection.

ORGANIC
John Patrick proves that what's good for the Earth can be great for fashion.

These are the global concepts whirling around in John Patrick's head: Peruvian cotton that grows purple and green naturally…goatherding societies in Mongolia…Swiss clean-textile technologies. And this brain of his is the one that also begat his collection of spot-on men's and women's clothes. "I'm interested in making things that are young and sexy," Patrick says over lunch in a Manhattan macrobiotic restaurant. So his ethically produced, sustainable line defies the crunchy conception of how a (for lack of a better word) "green" collection is expected to look. For example, Patrick has crafted a perfect floral camisole (made of waste from cotton production), a recycled-polyester pleated trouser, and a Victorian-style surplus-cotton blouse for spring. He does it all out of an abandoned warehouse in Albany, New York (he grows flax in the backyard of his farmhouse nearby), and produces most of the line in the United States. And even though he may be one of the most knowledgeable mavericks in the eco movement (he has actually met the farmers in Peru who grow that cotton), Patrick isn't one to preach. "It's not cool to be radical about this stuff," he says. "It's cool to just do it and show the ladies who like Chanel that they can also love Organic. And they love it because it's beautiful."

JASON WU
He's a man of many talents: painting, doll design, and, most important, creating ladylike fashion.

Earlier this year, Jason Wu made a trip to Tokyo to launch his collection there. "I went to the Park Hyatt hotel for a drink, and it had the best view. You look down at the city and see little blips. At any time, there are a billion lights all over the place. The colors are really cool." Those are the twinkling hues—yellow, fuchsia, royal blue, and other jewel tones—that were central to Wu's recent spring show.

Wu has been designing clothing since he was sixteen—but not for whom you think. His first foray into fashion was dreaming it up for dolls when he started freelancing for a toy company from his dorm at boarding school. First he worked for free, then for $500 a month. "That can go a long way for a kid in Windsor, Connecticut," Wu says. "It's a lot of Chinese takeout or pizza!" He eventually became a partner, got his very own self-titled line and did well enough to start a ready-to-wear label (for life-size women, this time). "I never would have written that plan down on paper: At sixteen, do dolls, and then fund own fashion company," says Wu, 26, a former intern for Narciso Rodriguez who has been sketching women's clothing since he was an art-loving child in Taiwan. But—to the delight of uptown girls who also wear Oscar and Carolina, and starlets like Leighton Meester and Gretchen Mol—here he is, turning out ultrafeminine collections of nipped-waist raw-silk sheaths, floral prints (derived from his own paintings), and party dresses. Same passion—different sort of doll.

"Just the Ten of Us" has been edited for Style.com; the complete story appears in the November 2008 issue of Vogue.

(CNN) -- It has fed the dreams of millions of air guitarists, headbangers and rocker wannabes. It has exposed a new generation of fans to classic rock and metal while helping the slumping record industry boost sales.

Now, for an encore, the wildly popular "Guitar Hero" video game franchise has a new, more ambitious goal: It wants to help you record original music and share it with other fans around the world.

"Guitar Hero World Tour," the fourth major installment in the gaming series, hits stores Sunday, October 26. Unlike past "GH" games, which came only with a guitar-shaped controller, "GHWT" also includes a drum kit and microphone, so gamers can tackle bass, vocal and percussion parts, too.

The game's new studio mode will allow players to use the instrument controllers to record music tracks. Through an online service called GHTunes, players also will be able to upload their songs, download others or collaborate to create music together.

The 86 songs in "Guitar Hero World Tour," all master recordings, include such riff-heavy classics as Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze," Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" and Bon Jovi's "Livin' On a Prayer." But the game also ventures into such new "GH" genres as country (Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again") and even dance pop ("Beat It" by Michael Jackson).

CNN spoke with "Guitar Hero" creators Charles and Kai Huang of RedOctane about the new game. (Some of their answers have been edited.)

Charles Huang: One of our goals was to create a great social gaming experience, so that four people can get together and play. The other was. . .the new feature we call GHTunes. In a music studio in "Guitar Hero" you can actually use our instrument controllers, create your own original music, upload it onto the Internet and . . .other people can download your music and play it in "Guitar Hero." You can lay down a drum track, stop, then pick up a guitar and lay down a guitar track. And then you can go into an editing studio and edit your song and put the finishing touches on it. So there's going to be almost an unlimited amount of original music. . .that people will explore.

Kai Huang: With GHTunes, once we launch that, it's going to be the biggest open platform for online distribution of music. That's something that's never really been offered before.

You've added other instruments to the game. How influenced were you by the success of "Rock Band?"

Kai Huang: We started with guitar. But our ultimate vision had always been about putting all of the instruments together and creating a band product. It was about waiting until we had what we thought the gamers were really going to want. With "World Tour," we have all new instruments.

CH: The guitar controller is slightly larger [than before].

KH: And we took a lot of time to make sure our drums were as authentic as possible. We've actually put the velocity-sensing technology in there, so the harder you hit the drum head, the harder it's going to sound, and the softer you hit, the softer its going to sound.

How does the game score players' vocals? That sounds tricky.

CH: The guitar and the drums work on a rhythm, a beat matching. And the vocals work on pitch matching. You have to match the pitch of the notes as they scroll by.

Why did you add a beginner level?

KH: Our whole objective with "Guitar Hero" is to make it as broadly accessible as possible. By adding this beginner mode, we can get even young kids, who are 5, 6, 7 and who maybe can't coordinate pressing a button on the guitar and strumming at the same time. . .to make it really easy for them. All they have to do is strum.

CH: My 7- and 9-year-old daughters play. And there are times when my 70-year-old dad plays. You want to give people of all ages and all sizes the ability to play "Guitar Hero" and have fun.

What about compatibility across formats? If I create a song on a Wii console, for example, could other people play it on an Xbox?

CH: I believe GHTunes is compatible across all formats.

How did you choose the songs for this game?

KH: We're looking for music that connects with people. When they hear it, they go, "Wow, I love that song and I have to buy this game." We start with a list of maybe 200 or 300 songs we would love to license. And from there we work with the labels and the artists themselves to see which ones we can actually get.

CH: We try to cover a lot of different genres and different eras. "Guitar Hero" has always been known for classic rock and metal. But we also look for songs that have great instrumentals and are fun to play, like "La Bamba," by Los Lobos, which is surprisingly difficult. We put in [new] genres like the Beastie Boys. Michael Jackson is in there. What's great about "Beat It" is that a lot of people forget that Eddie Van Halen played the guitar solo on that.

When you guys were first developing "Guitar Hero," didn't you have a hard time convincing artists to let you use their songs?

KH: Yeah, with "Guitar Hero 1," it was an unknown game. We went out and tried to license music and frankly got turned down for about 97 percent of the songs we asked for. They didn't know what this game was. We didn't have enough money to play them anyway. So it was a real challenge at the beginning. It's become much easier for us.

Do you have a preferred console for playing "Guitar Hero"?

CH: We try to take advantage of the uniqueness of each console. They're all very different, and we try to tailor our games to match the strengths of each.

KH: Yeah, we love all of our children. How do you choose?

What do you think has been "Guitar Hero's" biggest impact on the music industry?

CH: We actually saw...song downloads go up the week after "Guitar Hero III" was released -- for every single song that was included.

KH: Aerosmith generated more money on royalties for their game ["Guitar Hero Aerosmith"] than they did on each of their past two albums. So they [the games] are truly bringing artists to new audiences, and much bigger audiences.

So the new game will be in stores October 26? That's a Sunday.

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- India blasted into the international space race Wednesday with the successful launch of an ambitious two-year mission to study the moon's landscape.

The unmanned lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1, or "moon craft" in ancient Sanskrit, launched at 6:20 a.m. (8:50 p.m. ET) from the Sriharikota space center in southern India.

The mission seeks high-resolution imaging of the moon's surface, especially the permanently shadowed polar regions, according to the Indian Space Research Organization. It will also search for evidence of water or ice and attempt to identify the chemical breakdown of certain lunar rocks, the group said.

Despite the numerous missions to the moon over the past 50 years, "we really don't have a good map," said Miles O'Brien, CNN chief technology and environment correspondent. "The goal is to come up with a very intricate, three-dimensional map of the moon."

The Chandrayaan-1 is carrying payloads from the United States, European Union countries Germany, Britain, Sweden and Bulgaria, and India plans to share the data from the mission with other programs, including NASA. Watch the launch of India's first lunar mission »

ISRO said on its Web site that the mission would lay the groundwork for future lunar missions and "probe the physical characteristics of the lunar surface in greater depth than previous missions by other nations."

"It will also give us a deeper understanding about the planet Earth itself or its origins," a statement on the Web site said. "Earlier missions did not come out with a full understanding of the moon and that is the reason scientists are still interested. This will lay the foundation for bigger missions and also open up new possibilities of international networking and support for planetary programs."

Until now, India's space launches have been more practical, with weather warning satellites and communiations systems, The Associated Press cited former NASA associated administrator Scott Pace as saying.

To date, only the U.S. Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China have sent missions to the moon, according to AP.

Critics of the mission have questioned its $80 million price tag, saying the money should have been spent by the government to improve education and fight poverty.

But, "there are scientists that would argue that there are plenty of things we don't know about the moon ... and India might have the know-how" to find answers, said CNN's Sara Sidner in New Delhi.

The United States and the Soviet Union dominated the field of lunar exploration from the late 1950s. The United States is preparing for its own mission slated for next spring -- the first U.S. lunar mission in more than a decade, according to NASA.

Soviet spacecraft were the first to fly by, land on and orbit the moon. Luna 1, launched on January 2, 1959, and sped by the moon two days later.

Luna 2 was launched on an impact mission on September 12, 1959, striking the surface two days later. Luna 9 launched on January 31, 1966, becoming the first craft to successfully land on the moon and send back data, touching down on the surface on January 31, 1966, and transmitting until February 3, 1967, when its batteries ran out.

Luna 10 was launched March 31, 1966, entered lunar orbit on April 3, and operated for 56 days.

But the United States' Apollo missions were the first manned missions to reach the moon, culminating with six missions that set down on the surface. The first, Apollo 11, left earth on July 16, 1969, and landed astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin on the lunar surface on July 20 while command module pilot Michael Collins orbited above. The astronauts returned safely to earth on July 24.

Most recently India's fellow Asian nations, China and Japan, put lunar orbiters in place. Japan launched the Kaguya orbiter in October 2007, followed by China's launch of the Chang'e mission a few weeks later. Watch what is shaping up to be a new space race »

"Each nation is doing its own thing to drive its research technology for the well-being of that nation," AP quoted Charles Vick, a space analyst for the Washington think tank GlobalSecurity.org, as saying.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A majority of Americans aren't happy with the way Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is handling his job or with the financial rescue package he and Congress created, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Of 1,058 people surveyed in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, 64% said they disapproved of Paulson's performance and 28% said they approved. The poll was conducted on Oct. 17-19 and the margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The Treasury secretary, however, fared better than the president has recently. In an earlier poll, 72% of Americans said they disapproved of the way President Bush is handling his job.

A majority in the latest poll - 56% - said they also oppose the financial rescue package passed by Congress earlier this month. That package allows Treasury to buy troubled assets to stabilize the financial system.

In particular, 53% of Americans polled said they thought a major action taken as a result of that package - Uncle Sam providing capital to banks and other financial institutions in exchange for an equity stake in those companies - is a bad idea.

Fifty-eight percent also think the idea of the government providing financial assistance to keep a big company in business in exchange for a stake in that company is also a bad idea.

The Treasury has stepped in to help giant insurer American International Group (AIG, Fortune 500), which has received more than $100 billion in government loans. It has also taken over and agreed to provide funding for mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

There is one financial rescue strategy that won support in the poll: 58% of those polled said they favored government assistance to homeowners who can't pay their mortgages.

The financial rescue package requires the government to encourage lenders to modify mortgages in cases where the government holds at least a partial stake in a mortgage-backed security. And in cases where the government buys loans directly, it may modify the loans on its own.

On Oct. 1, the Federal Housing Administration launched a program to encourage lenders to write down loans to below a home's appraised value in exchange for refinancing a troubled borrower into an FHA-backed loan.

Early reports on that program, however, suggest that any positive effect on foreclosures may take time.

Meanwhile, FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair, who was instrumental in working on the financial rescue package provisions, has said publicly she thinks the government now needs to do more to help struggling homeowners. 

Poll: Bailout aimed at Wall Street

Bailout 101: What the new law says

Rescue plan: What's in it

Here comes stimulus. The question is how.

Lifeline for Automakers Dangles Just Out of Reach

A $25 billion loan program rushed through Congress to revive the nation's ailing domestic auto industry may not deliver any money to Detroit for more than a year, federal officials said, prompting concern that the cash may come too late to prop up one of the country's most important manufacturing sectors.

In recent days, auto industry representatives and lawmakers from Michigan, Kentucky and other states where auto plants employ tens of thousands of workers have begun clamoring to pry the funds loose, prodding the Bush administration and questioning the reasons for the delay. Federal officials have said it would take months to finalize the rules for distributing funds.

The loan program has emerged as a lifeline as the global financial crisis has made it more difficult for people to get loans, sending car sales plummeting to a 15-year low. In response, General Motors and Chrysler have discussed merging or forming an alliance in hopes of arresting their decline. On Monday, billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian began selling off his stake in Ford at a large loss, adding to worries about the industry's prospects.

Both presidential candidates have urged the Bush administration to speed release of the loans. Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), the Democratic candidate, said at a rally last week in Ohio that if he were president, "I would call in the secretary of Energy and say 'get this thing moving' because these companies need help now."

The loan package, the largest government subsidy for the auto industry since the 1979 Chrysler bailout, is intended to aid production of more fuel-efficient cars. During the gas crisis of the 1970s, Asian and European automakers capitalized on America's growing appetite for smaller cars. Since then, the Big Three have slipped and continue to lose market share to Toyota, Honda and other foreign brands.

Retooling has become more difficult as the financial crisis has frozen credit markets. Earlier this month, J.D. Power and Associates said the global market for autos may experience an "outright collapse" in 2009.

"It's critical to have a direct loan program, and it's equally important to infuse that money into the industry as quickly as possible," GM spokesman Greg Martin said.

To qualify for the loans, automakers must prove they can build vehicles at least 25 percent more fuel efficient as they work toward meeting new standards of at least 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Suppliers are also eligible for the loans.

Although the bill doesn't restrict the loans to the Big Three, it directs the money to facilities built at least two decades ago.

"It was craftily done to keep out Japanese," said George Hoffer, economics professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. "None of the Japanese plants are 20 years old."

The Big Three all have plans to move fuel-efficient cars onto the market. Chrysler recently introduced three electric car prototypes with the promise of bringing one to market in 2010. Ford is retooling its large truck and SUV plants to build small cars and aims to double its hybrid vehicle production and lineup in 2009. GM has been pushing its Chevy Volt as the first mass-marketed, plug-in hybrid vehicle.

Congress approved the money last month and directed the Energy Department to write regulations for the program, including the interest rate for the loans, by the end of November. A day after the measure passed the House, however, Energy officials issued a statement vowing to "expedite" their actions, but expressing "significant doubts about whether distribution of loans by January 2009 is realistic."

"Because there are a number of legal and administrative requirements with which the Department must comply, such as the National Environmental Policy Act, we anticipate it could take at least 6 to 18 months or more, after necessary funds are appropriated, before [the] loans could be issued and funds disbursed," it said.

In addition to making sure any new facilities comply with environmental regulations -- a process that could take months -- Energy officials said they must abide by the Congressional Review Act, which prevents a regulation from being implemented until 60 days after the next Congress convenes in January.

"Congress had the opportunity to waive these requirements to speed up the process, but to date, has chosen not to," said Healy Baumgardner, an Energy spokeswoman. "Congress set a deadline of 60 days for DOE to issue regulations governing this new program, not for the loans to be made."

The delay outraged auto-state lawmakers in both parties. "It's inexcusable and inexplicable that they cannot get these loan guarantees out there faster," said Nate Bailey, a spokesman for Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich.), whose suburban Detroit district is home to Chrysler's headquarters.

This month, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) joined the clamor. On behalf of more than 2,000 workers at a Ford plant in Louisville, McConnell wrote Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman to ask that the agency "comply with the guidelines in the bill," said McConnell spokesman Don Stewart.

Is a $25 billion loan enough? By many estimates, it'll cost all automakers, foreign companies included, $100 billion to meet the new efficiency standards in 2020.

Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said he is considering a push to include an additional $25 billion in an economic stimulus package that could come before Congress as soon as next month. But sources in the industry and Congress said more money would do little good unless it is released quickly.

While waiting, some automakers are running low on cash. Last month GM's domestic sales were down 18 percent from a year ago. Burning through more than $1 billion a month, GM posted a net loss of $15.5 billion in the second quarter. Ford's sales dropped 34 percent, and it posted a second-quarter net loss of $8.7 billion. Chrysler, privately owned, does not report financial information. It had a 25 percent slump in sales through September.

Reports of Chrysler combining with GM or forming alliances with Japan's Nissan Motor and France's Renault continue to swirl.

On Monday, Tracinda Corp., Kerkorian's investment arm, sold 7.3 million shares in Ford for an average $2.43 a share. Tracinda said it intended to sell its remaining 133.5 million shares.

Ford shares yesterday closed at $2.17, down 16 cents or 6.9 percent. The value of Kerkorian's stake in Ford has declined to less than $300 million from about $1 billion earlier this year.