Chinas moon plan mirrors NASAs, except for one big difference
Here's how China's 2030 moon landing plan stacks up against NASA's Artemis, from rockets and landers to who flies the test runs.
China's plan to land people on the moon by 2030 follows a similar path to NASA's, but there's one crucial difference. China's lunar exploration approach skips crewed lunar test flights, relying on robots to rehearse lunar missions instead. This strategy was outlined during the 7th Manned Space Symposium in Beijing on October 31st.
According to a slide from the presentation, China plans to send a crew to Earth orbit in 2027 aboard the Mengzhou, or "Dream Vessel," capsule. Then, robots take over with the Lanyue, or "Embracing the Moon," lander touching down on the moon by itself in 2028. An unmanned mission rehearses the full landing sequence in 2029.
Wang Xiang, chief designer of China's lunar exploration program, stated in an English caption on a CCTV report that for any crewed mission, China will first try flying it unmanned. This starkly contrasts with NASA's approach, which relies on human test pilots to validate lunar hardware. NASA's civilian program aims to land astronauts on the moon by 2028, drawing inspiration from the Apollo era.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman explained that their strategy follows a proven playbook - putting crews on key test flights, launching frequently, and building on each mission. NASA has already conducted one crewed test flight with Artemis II, sending four astronauts around the moon in April. Artemis III will see a four-person crew spend about two weeks in Earth orbit, practicing docking maneuvers with test versions of commercial landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX.
Unlike China's single lander plan, NASA will evaluate both landers before choosing one for the first crewed mission.
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