China publicly discloses plan for a lunar landing within three years

In Beijing, Chinese space officials unveiled a comprehensive plan for a lunar landing before 2030 during the Seventh Manned Spaceflight Conference. Ars Technica reports that the Chinese approach to lunar missions will mirror NASA's 1960s and 1970s Apollo program, utilizing a lunar-orbit rendezvous. However, China lacks a rocket as powerful as the Saturn V, so the crew and lunar lander will travel to the Moon separately.

The outlined plan includes:

- An uncrewed test of the Long March 10A rocket and the Mengzhou spacecraft to low-Earth orbit by 2027.

- An uncrewed test of the larger Long March 10 rocket and the Lanyue lunar lander, including descent and ascent from the lunar surface by 2028.

- Concurrent launches of two Long March 10 rockets, one carrying the Mengzhou and the other the Lanyue vehicle, which will dock in lunar orbit by 2029.

- A dual launch of Long March 10 rockets with crew on the Mengzhou spacecraft, leading to a crewed landing mission before 2030.