China discloses first crewed lunar mission plan: three astronauts, two to land on the Moon before 2030, via dual Long March-10 launches.
Wang Xiang, deputy chief designer of China's manned space program and chief designer of its lunar exploration program, said at the 7th Human Space Symposium at Beihang University on 31 October that China plans a crewed Moon landing before 2030, and that the first crewed lunar mission is planned for a three-person crew with two landing on the surface. The mission will use a lunar-orbit rendezvous profile with 'two launches, one landing': two Long March-10 rockets will first send a lander into lunar orbit, then launch a crewed spacecraft to dock with it; two astronauts will enter the lander, separate and land for exploration, then ascend, redock in lunar orbit and return to Earth in the spacecraft. Wang said development for the landing phase is proceeding. Global Times, The Paper, Beijing Daily Online and Lianhe Zaobao reported the remarks; Zaobao also noted that a Long March-10 low-altitude demo and a Mengzhou max-dynamic-pressure abort test succeeded in February.
Read full issue →