China has a plan that’s out of this world.
Space officials shed light Monday on China’s aspiration to dispatch astronauts to the moon by 2030 and bolster the country’s orbiting space station as part of an ambitious effort to eclipse rival nations.
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“We firmly believe that the spring of China’s space science has arrived, and we have the determination, confidence, and ability to resolutely complete the mission,” commander Jing Haipeng said, per the Associated Press.
Scientists in China have previously dropped hints about the nation’s objectives of placing a human on the moon, with a key official in China’s lunar exploration program suggesting the feat would be “no problem” last month.
The announcement Monday took place at a news conference ahead of its plan to blast three astronauts to its space station on Tuesday. That will mark the country’s fifth manned mission to the orbiting craft since 2021, per the China Manned Space Agency.
So far, the only nation to land a man on the moon successfully is the United States, which did so back in the late 1960s with the Apollo program.
No living soul from Earth has returned since, but the U.S. is hoping to go back by the end of 2025 and is planning for a more ambitious trek to Mars by the late 2030s or early 2040s.
China’s mission to the moon will feature a “short stay on the lunar surface and human-robotic joint exploration,” Deputy Director of the China Manned Space Agency Lin Xiqiang said, per the report.
Additionally, China is hoping to eventually add a fourth module to its Tiangong space station “at an appropriate time,” according to Lin.
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Beijing constructed its space station against the backdrop of exclusion from the International Space Station due to objections from the U.S. Back in 2003, China made its first manned mission into space.
China’s unveiled plans to send astronauts to the moon come amid heightened tensions with the U.S. and evoke memories of the space race during the Cold War.
