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Holly Chik

As the race to send humans back to the moon heats up, China has been fine-tuning its plans.
On Saturday – the day after the US company SpaceX successfully launched its largest and most powerful Starship – the China Manned Space Agency unveiled further details about its plans to integrate its crewed and uncrewed lunar landing programmes into a single mission.
The purpose was “to fully leverage the technical foundations and practical experience accumulated over decades through crewed space programmes and the Chang’e lunar exploration missions”, agency spokesman Zhang Jingbo told a press conference at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre.
Zhou Yaqiang, a senior engineer at the China Manned Space Agency, told reporters that the process of “combining experiences and expertise” from the various missions was “progressing smoothly”.
When asked about the US-China moon race, Zhou reiterated the official Chinese position, saying that the country was committed to the peaceful use of space.
“We carry out the project of crewed lunar exploration under the established plan. We are not competing with other countries in space. Our crewed lunar programme is also not subject to interference from any factors,” he said.
“When Chinese astronauts land on the moon in the future, this will be a great feat for all of humanity. It will help increase our understanding of space.”
China plans to land astronauts on the moon before 2030, while Nasa aims to send Americans back to the moon in 2028 – the first time humans will have stood on the lunar surface since the last Apollo mission in 1972.
Last month the United States sent four astronauts deeper into space than anyone had ever been during the 10-day Artemis II mission to the far side of the moon.
Next year’s crewed Nasa mission will see the Orion spacecraft docking with commercial landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX, with plans to land the Artemis IV astronauts on the moon in 2028.


Meanwhile, China is planning to launch its uncrewed Chang’e-7 lunar probe later this year to survey the south pole of the moon.
It will also continue testing the Long March-10 carrier rocket, the Mengzhou spacecraft and Lanyue lander, which will be used when it sends its own astronauts to the moon.
The space agency said the Tiangong space station would also play a key supporting role in helping to test equipment and give its astronauts experience.
Zhang also said that the lunar mission’s “technological maturity and mission reliability” would “comprehensively improve through multiple space station flight missions over the next two years”.
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The country releases further details about how it is ‘combining experiences and expertise’ from its crewed and uncrewed lunar missions


The country releases further details about how it is ‘combining experiences and expertise’ from its crewed and uncrewed lunar missions.


China merges lunar programmes as race to moon with US heats up after latest SpaceX launch

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The country releases further details about how it is ‘combining experiences and expertise’ from its crewed and uncrewed lunar missions

The country releases further details about how it is ‘combining experiences and expertise’ from its crewed and uncrewed lunar missions