China plans to complete a mission to land a person on the moon by 2030, a government official announced on Monday, in the highest-level confirmation of China’s ambitions for a crewed lunar landing. Chinese scientists have previously nodded at a 2030 goal in a less formal capacity. “We can clasp the moon in the ninth heaven,” Lin Xiqiang, the deputy director of China’s Manned Space Agency, said at a conference on Monday, quoting a poem by former Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong. Lin said the project would also seek to enable short-term stays on the lunar surface, as well as collect samples and conduct research.
A manned lunar landing would be a major milestone for China: No human has been on the moon since the US’ Apollo missions in the 1960s and ’70s.
A manned lunar landing would be a major milestone for China: No human has been on the moon since the US’ Apollo missions in the 1960s and ’70s.