Update: China’s Moon Plan Has Four Missions, With a Crewed Landing ‘Before 2030’

An update to my China Moon plan post, with the step-by-step roadmap from Space.com, citing CNSpaceflight.

The four missions

1. 2027: first Long March 10A puts an uncrewed Mengzhou (“Dream Vessel”) in low Earth orbit for tests
2. 2028: first Long March 10 sends an uncrewed Lanyue lander to the Moon to land and lift back to lunar orbit
3. 2029: two Long March 10s, one each for Mengzhou and Lanyue, rehearse docking in lunar orbit, then Lanyue lands uncrewed
4. “Before 2030”: a crewed Mengzhou and Lanyue dock in lunar orbit, and two of three astronauts land for three days with a moonwalk each day

CNSpaceflight notes 2029 is the 80th anniversary of the current government, but “before 2030” avoids committing to a year if a test slips. NASA is aiming for 2028 with Artemis.

My take

An aggressive schedule, but a clear one. The race is real.

God Bless, and Happy hacking!

References & Further Reading

• China lays out plans to land astronauts on the moon before 2030 (Space.com)
• China Lays Out Its Plan to Land Taikonauts on the Moon by 2030 (EtherNinja)