China Draws Its Moon Map: Two Rockets, One Rendezvous, Boots by 2030

China has published its clearest map yet to the Moon. Wang Xiang, chief designer of the country's lunar exploration programme, presented the plan for a crewed landing at the 7th Manned Space Symposium in Beijing, SpacePolicyOnline reports, citing Xinhua and CCTV. Universe Today says the official statement followed on 3 November. The symposium also marked 70 years of China's space programme, The Register notes.

How the landing would work

The strategy is called "two launches, lunar orbit rendezvous". Two Long March 10 rockets would fly separately: one with Lanyue ("embracing the Moon"), the lander, and one with Mengzhou ("dream vessel"), the crew spacecraft. They meet in orbit around the Moon. Two of the three taikonauts move into Lanyue, land, return to Mengzhou and fly home. Universe Today puts the lunar Long March 10's payload capacity at 27 tonnes. According to a slide from Wang's talk, posted by CNSpaceflight and reported by SpacePolicyOnline, the road runs:

• 2027: Mengzhou's first uncrewed test flight to Earth orbit.
• 2028: a Lanyue lunar landing test.
• 2029: a full rehearsal, with two launches and a landing.
• Before 2030: the crewed landing.

Why the race just got closer

The timing matters in Washington. At NASA's Artemis Acceleration news conference on 23 October, Administrator Jared Isaacman said the space race is "closer than it needed to be", SpacePolicyOnline reports. He wants SpaceX and Blue Origin to land Americans in 2028; Artemis III is planned as a docking test in Earth orbit next year. China has had setbacks too: in August it called off the robotic Chang'e 7 mission a day before launch because it "failed to meet launch criteria", and will try again next year, The Register says.

In 1969 the race was about who got there first. This time it may be about who can stay.

A busy week in orbit

The plan lands during a busy stretch for Chinese rockets. On 3 November, CAS Space's Lijian-2 lifted off from the Dongfeng commercial space zone and placed 18 Spacesail internet satellites in orbit, Xinhua reported; it was the rocket's second flight. Orbital Radar's schedule lists a Long March 2C on 5 November, a Ceres-2 from Galactic Energy on 6 November and a Long March 12 on 8 November, all subject to change.

For space travellers, the takeaway is long-term: a Chinese Moon landing would not open seats for tourists, but it would push NASA and its commercial partners to move faster. We will follow the 2027 Mengzhou test closely.