In a rare public statement, China laid out its detailed plan to land a crew of astronauts on the Moon within three years. The recently revealed roadmap offers the most comprehensive look yet at the nation’s lunar ambitions, laying out the steps it intends to take to get its crew to the surface of the Moon as the new space race heats up.
During the 7th Manned Space Symposium in Beijing, Wang Xiang, chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program, presented a comprehensive overview of a series of missions leading up to a crewed landing on the lunar surface before 2030, China’s Global Times reported.
The plans include a full-scale landing rehearsal, which will not involve a crew on board, as well as a rendezvous in lunar orbit before China’s first attempt to land astronauts on the Moon.
To deliver its missions to the Moon, China plans to begin testing in Earth orbit with its Long March 10A, a single-stick variant configured with no side boosters. The rocket is initially slated to launch the Mengzhou spacecraft to China’s Tiangong space station for cargo missions in early 2027 to collect data and demonstrate its reliability.
The following year, China plans on carrying out an uncrewed test flight of the larger, three-stage Long March 10 rocket and the Lanyue lunar lander. The uncrewed lander will attempt to land on the Moon and lift off again.
Lanyue and Mengzhou will then launch on two separate Long March 10 rockets and attempt to dock in lunar orbit for a full-scale rehearsal mission set for 2029.
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