China announces astronauts' Moon landing goal before 2030 in Beijing
China just announced it's aiming to land astronauts on the Moon before 2030.
The plan was shared at a big space event in Beijing, where chief designer of China's lunar exploration program Wang Xiang explained that several test missions, including a practice landing and a rendezvous in lunar orbit, are lined up first.
Mengzhou 2027, Lanyue 2028, rendezvous 2029
The missions will use China's Long March 10 rockets.
First up: sending the Mengzhou spacecraft to the Tiangong space station in 2027 to gather data.
In 2028, an uncrewed lander called Lanyue will attempt a Moon landing, followed by a key docking test around the Moon in 2029, kind of like what NASA did back in the Apollo days.
If all goes well, Chinese astronauts could be walking on the lunar surface soon after.
NASA hopes crewed Moon landing pre-2030
This move is part of a bigger space race: NASA also hopes for a crewed Moon landing before 2030.
All eyes are on who'll get there first.