China publicly discloses plan for a lunar landing within three years

Chinese space officials confirmed this weekend that the Asian nation plans to land its astronauts on the Moon within three years. At the Seventh Manned Spaceflight Conference in Beijing, officials, including Wang Xiang, chief designer for the lunar exploration program, laid out the country’s most publicly detailed plans yet for a series of missions leading up to a crewed lunar landing “before 2030.”

中国航天官员本周末证实，该国计划在三年内将宇航员送上月球。在北京举行的第七届载人航天学术会议上，包括月球探测工程总设计师王翔在内的官员们，公布了该国迄今为止最详细的载人登月任务计划，目标是在“2030年前”实现载人登月。

China’s lunar landings will involve a lunar-orbit rendezvous similar to what NASA did in the 1960s and early 1970s with the Apollo program. However, lacking a rocket as powerful as the Saturn V vehicle, the crew and lunar lander will launch separately to the Moon. According to slides shared on social media, the current plan involves: An uncrewed test of the Long March 10A rocket (a single-stick variant, with no boosters) and the Mengzhou spacecraft to low-Earth orbit. Target: early 2027.

中国的登月任务将采用类似于美国国家航空航天局（NASA）在20世纪60年代和70年代初阿波罗计划中所使用的月球轨道交会对接方案。然而，由于缺乏像土星五号那样强大的火箭，载人飞船和月球着陆器将分别发射前往月球。根据社交媒体上分享的幻灯片，目前的计划包括：长征十号甲火箭（无助推器的单芯级变体）与梦舟载人飞船的低地球轨道无人测试。目标时间：2027年初。

An uncrewed test of the larger Long March 10 rocket (a core stage with two boosters) and the Lanyue lunar lander, including descent/ascent from Moon’s surface. Target: 2028. A concurrent launch of two Long March 10 rockets, one carrying uncrewed Mengzhou and the other the Lanyue vehicle; they will dock in lunar orbit. Target: 2029. Dual launch of Long March 10 rockets, this time with crew on the Mengzhou spacecraft, leading to crewed landing mission. Target: “Before 2030.”

更大规模的长征十号火箭（芯级加两个助推器）与揽月月球着陆器的无人测试，包括月面下降与上升。目标时间：2028年。两枚长征十号火箭同时发射，一枚搭载无人梦舟飞船，另一枚搭载揽月着陆器，并在月球轨道进行对接。目标时间：2029年。两枚长征十号火箭再次双发射，此次梦舟飞船将搭载乘组，执行载人登月任务。目标时间：“2030年前”。

The public release of this new information provides a timeline for gauging China’s technical progress in its efforts to land humans on the Moon before 2030 and beat NASA and the United States back to the lunar surface. Notably, the plan (for now, at least) omits a mission similar to Apollo 8 or Artemis II, which involved a crew flying out to the Moon and either entering orbit or passing close by before returning to Earth.

此次公开的新信息为评估中国在2030年前实现载人登月并赶超NASA和美国重返月球的技术进展提供了时间表。值得注意的是，该计划（至少目前）省略了类似于阿波罗8号或阿尔忒弥斯2号的任务，即载人飞往月球并在返回地球前进入月球轨道或近距离绕飞的任务。

NASA has set a target of landing humans on the Moon by 2028, a year or so ahead of China. The United States, which has been working on the Space Launch System rocket for 15 years and the Orion spacecraft even longer, has a more established rocket and crew vehicle. But there are major questions surrounding the development of a lunar lander, for which both SpaceX and Blue Origin have multibillion-dollar development contracts.

NASA设定的载人登月目标是2028年，比中国提前一年左右。美国在太空发射系统（SLS）火箭上已经投入了15年，在猎户座飞船上的投入时间更长，拥有更成熟的火箭和载人航天器。但月球着陆器的开发存在重大疑问，SpaceX和蓝色起源公司都为此获得了数十亿美元的开发合同。

Depending on how these projects go, a US lunar landing could be delayed to 2030 or even later. Although it is virtually impossible for outsiders to glean information about technical milestones achieved inside China’s space program, the country is clearly making credible progress toward reaching the Moon. For example, in August 2025, the China Manned Space Agency successfully tested a high-fidelity mock-up of its 26-ton Lanyue lunar lander.

根据这些项目的进展情况，美国的登月计划可能会推迟到2030年甚至更晚。尽管外界几乎不可能获知中国航天项目内部实现的技术里程碑，但中国显然在登月方面取得了可靠的进展。例如，2025年8月，中国载人航天工程办公室成功测试了其26吨重的“揽月”月球着陆器的高保真模型。