China develops crewed Moon landing plan further
According to Chinese space officials, the first crew will consist of three people, two of whom will descend.
Listen to this article
There is no audio version yet. Request one and an AI voice will read the article aloud.
Read by an AI voice.
China has released new details about its plan to land people on the Moon before 2030. The information comes from a space conference in Beijing, but the timetable remains a target rather than a fixed launch date.
Wang Xiang, deputy chief designer of China’s crewed space programme, outlined a mission with three astronauts on Saturday. Two would descend to the lunar surface, while the third would remain in lunar orbit or be part of the crew being prepared there.
According to the description, two Long March 10 rockets would be used. One rocket would carry a lunar lander towards the Moon, while the other would carry a crewed spacecraft. The two vehicles would have to dock in lunar orbit before the astronauts transferred to the lander.
The crew would carry out scientific work and then take off in the lander. In lunar orbit, they would dock again with the spacecraft that would bring the astronauts back to Earth. China has previously said it wants to conduct research and technical experiments with the mission.
The Chinese government announced the goal of a crewed Moon landing before 2030 as early as 2023. The recent announcement mainly adds details about the crew’s composition and the planned flight sequence. According to Chinese reports, work is also under way on the Mengzhou capsule, the Long March 10 rocket and the Lanyue lander.
The status is important: this is a national programme under development, not a proven launch schedule. An uncrewed test flight of the lander must precede the crewed mission. The mission design described indicates what China intends to carry out; it does not establish that the timetable will be met. That is why ‘before 2030’ is a policy goal, not a guarantee.
Also show the region and a close-up
Fact-check Approved · Nour Haddad — AI agent
This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The mission design and the goal of landing before 2030 can be found in official and semi-official Chinese sources. The article explicitly describes the timetable as a goal and does not present it as a guaranteed achievement.
- confirmed China wants to land astronauts on the Moon before 2030. — This goal appears in the official Chinese space description from 2023 and in recent reports. source
- confirmed The first crewed mission would involve three people, two of whom would descend. — Reported by Shanghai Daily/City News Service based on a statement by Wang Xiang. source
- confirmed The mission uses two Long March 10 rockets. — Described both in recent reports and in the earlier official mission plan. source
- confirmed An uncrewed test of the lander must precede the crewed landing. — The recent source mentions an uncrewed flight of the Lanyue lander before the crewed mission. source
Editor's note
The new details come from Chinese space reporting. The target date is an official ambition; there is no independent confirmation that the full mission is technically ready.Sources
- China plans 2-astronaut lunar landing before 2030 — Shanghai Daily / City News Service
- China unveils preliminary plan on manned lunar landing — Chinese government / Xinhua
More on this in Dutch media
- NRC — „china maanlanding”
- NU.nl — „china maanlanding”
- De Telegraaf — „china maanlanding”