HELSINKI – China is set to achieve its goal of putting its astronauts on the moon before the end of the decade, according to the country’s human space agency.
Officials of the China Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) provided rare details about the lunar mission program during a press conference held at the Jiuquan spaceport on April 24.
“The development of the program of major aerospace products, including the March 10 long-range rocket, the Mengzhou crew plane, Lanyue and the lunar landing suits have all been completed,” said Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSEO. “Their prototype development and testing is fully underway.”
Chinese officials earlier announced a plan to put a pair of astronauts on the moon before 2030. Two Long March 10 rockets of different types of the moon will launch from Mengzhou separately with three astronauts and the Lanyue lander. After that, the two will meet to orbit the moon and wait before descending to the lunar surface. The two astronauts will spend six hours in the lunar orbit before rejoining their colleagues in the lunar orbit and returning to Earth.
“The development of mechanical and thermal test products for the crew spacecraft and the lander has been completed. Various rocket engines are being tested by hot-fire tests, and the launch pad “Wenchang Moon is still under construction,” Lin said.
New tools are needed to start running jobs. This is being built near China’s existing airport in Wenchang, Hainan island.
Lin added that the training of scientists for this work includes the proper operation of Mengzhou and Lanyue aircraft, including normal and emergency flight conditions. Docking and docking and manual obstacle avoidance during landing were observed as part of the training. Other missions include getting into and out of the lander, operating in one-sixth of Earth’s gravity, long-term lunar landings, drilling, sampling, and other missions. lunar space science.
The mission of the lunar landing crew is part of China’s broader plans to build a robotic and eventually manned space station. The initiative is known as the International Lunar Research Institute (ILRS).
Lin said that landing a human on the moon is a challenging and innovative science and technology project. He said efforts will be made to continue development and production in a coordinated way to fulfill the mission as planned.
Meanwhile, the US is working to return humans to the moon with its Artemis 3 project. The project, which was previously scheduled for late 2025, was officially delayed until September 2026 in January of this year this. A Government Accountability Office report in December 2023 concluded that the mission was unlikely to happen before 2027.
CMSEO’s press event – held on China’s national space day – was to unveil the crew for the Shenzhou-18 mission. The mission will launch at 8:59 am (1259 UTC) on April 25, arriving at the Tiangong area 6.5 hours later.
The crew will be managed by Ye Guangfu, a veteran of the 2021 Shenzhou-13 mission. Completing the crew will be former PLA Air Force pilots Li Guangsu and Li Cong. The final pair will be embarking on their first space shuttle mission.
