China Unveils Their Plan for a Crewed Moon Landing

On November 3rd, China's deputy chief designer for the crewed space program, Wang Xiang, announced the nation's space agency's plans for a crewed mission to the Moon. This mission will involve two launches of the Long March 10 rocket, each carrying a lunar lander and a spaceship with a crew of three taikonauts. After rendezvousing in lunar orbit, two crew members will transfer from the spaceship to the lander and descend to the lunar surface for scientific experiments.

The plans were presented at the 7th Manned Space Symposium held in Beijing, under the theme of Digital and Intelligent Empowerment for High-Quality Development of Manned Spaceflight. The mission aligns with the preliminary plan proposed at the 9th China International Commercial Aerospace Forum in July 2023. China's Lunar Exploration Program includes the development of the Lanyue lander, Mengzhou crewed spaceship, and Long March 10 rocket, which have all reached significant milestones.

These milestones include tethered lander tests, abort and escape tests for the Mengzhou spacecraft, and low-altitude tests for the Long March 10 rocket. The crewed mission is expected to be completed by 2030, following two key planning principles: utilizing different vehicle variants for various mission stages and conducting uncrewed tests before attempting a crewed landing.