China targets first crewed lunar landing before 2030 with three-astronaut mission
Deputy chief designer says two of three taikonauts will walk on the lunar surface as part of China's accelerated moon program.
What to know
- China announced a goal to land three astronauts on the moon before 2030, with two walking on the lunar surface—a timeline that would rival or beat U.S. Artemis 4 efforts.
- The China Manned Space Agency says lunar-landing phase tasks are progressing steadily, though independent commenters question whether China has the rocket and spacecraft ready for such a deadline.
- China plans to open its space station to international scientists for experiments and collaboration, positioning itself as a global space partner.
The dispute Whether China, the U.S. Artemis program, or private companies will achieve the first crewed lunar landing and by when, given competing claims and doubts about hardware readiness across all parties. · positions read across 97 posts and comments
China's timeline is unrealistic without existing flight-ready spacecraft and launch rockets.
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“Really? But they haven't even flown their new spacecraft and they don't have a rocket to send it to the moon yet, how are they going to do it in less than 3 years?”
caribbean_caramel · reddit ↗
SpaceX and U.S. Artemis will reach the moon first, ahead of China.
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“I trust Jared and SpaceX, so I think Artemis 4 will happen sometime within 2028; in which case they'll be first.”
Xenomorph555 · reddit ↗
Hardware delays and supply-chain constraints make any pre-2030 lunar mission target uncertain.
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“The way things have been going on the supply side, I doubt we'll see Arty 4 next year.”
YamDankies · reddit ↗
Wang Xiang Deputy chief designer, China manned space programChina Manned Space Agency Government space agency
How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlespostscomments
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China Manned Space Agency confirms steady progress on lunar tasks
The China Manned Space Agency reported that work is progressing steadily on all lunar-landing phase tasks. The agency also announced plans to open the China Space Station to scientists worldwide as a platform for space science experiments.
“Three astronauts are planned for the mission, with two landing on the lunar surface…”
— Wang Xiang, Deputy chief designer, China manned space program · source -
first by China Daily, 8d ago · also Ars Technica
2 more headlines
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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: arstechnica.
2 more of the top 3 · 97 posts in this stretch
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China releases timeline for lunar landing on the Moon, targeting "before 2030" The plan does not include a mission similar to Apollo 8 or Artemis II. https:// arstechnica.com/space/2026/11/ china-releases-timeline-for-lunar-landing-on-the-moon-targeting-before-2030/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
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This makes zero sense Sure it does. It would prevent any future administration from conducting a War on Science as Trump has. And would require a constitutional amendment yup This just requires congress to act. As it would regardless of how many branches of government you created. The goal is to minimize meddling from rogue Presidents and…
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background
Wang Xiang announces crewed lunar landing goal before 2030 — At the Seventh Manned Space Symposium in Beijing, deputy chief designer Wang Xiang disclosed that China plans to achieve its first crewed lunar landing before 2030, with a three-astronaut mission in which two will land on the lunar surface.
Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet
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first by BigGo Finance, 8d ago · also Global Times, Xinhua
3 more headlines
- China aims for manned moon landing before 2030, with two taikonauts set to touch down on lunar surface Global Times · 8d ago
- China unveils detailed plan for manned moon landing Global Times · 6d ago
- China aims for manned moon landing before 2030 Global Times · 5d ago
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first by Global Times, 6d ago · also The Register
2 more headlines
- China outlines plans for moonshot it hopes to land by 2030 The Register · 4d ago
- China lays out plans to land astronauts on the moon 'before 2030.' Can NASA still win this race? Space.com · 3d ago
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first by Gizmodo, 4d ago · also Smithsonian
1 more headline
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2 outlets 'Two launches, lunar orbit rendezvous': China unveils detailed plan for manned moon landing
first by CGTN, 8d ago · also Space Policy Online
1 more headline
- China Plans “Two Launches, Lunar Orbit Rendezvous” to Land Taikonauts on Moon Space Policy Online · 5d ago
and 2 smaller pieces
What people are saying 21 voices from 3 sites · best of 97 · verbatim
- Nov 5
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NASA Atermis have less delay than these China program he list. Atemis II delay 1 year(it supposed launch in 2025 but push back to 2026). And during Atetmis II, the crew have already fly around Moon orbit, that not much far from Moon landing Also Atermis III and Artemis IV will only be pushed back one year to 2027 and 2028. Also most of hardware…
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China has laid out its roadmap for landing astronauts on the moon "before 2030," a milestone that NASA hopes to achieve in 2028. View article View summary #^ China lays out plans to land astronauts on the moon 'before 2030.' Can NASA still win this race? China has given us some details about the epic moon landing it plans to pull off a few years…
- Nov 3
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@arstechnica.com #China releases timeline for lunar landing on the #Moon, targeting "before 2030" The plan does not include a mission similar to Apollo 8 or Artemis II. #NASA #SpaceRace 2.0 #ELon rat f*cked arstechnica.com/space/2026/1...? Nov 02, 2026
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News about the #chinese #space program's plans for landing people on the #moon
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Really, do tell. Who do you think causes the problems on the planet that need to be solved?? My point is that we cause more than we fix. Rather than fix them, the rich, like Musk, just want to leave Earth behind and go to Mars. What do you think it's going to be like on Earth when we have multiple daily rocket launches from many different places?…
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I think China will get to the moon before the US returns. Why? Musk designed a vehicle to go to Mars not to the Moon. It's overkill and working out the issues is going to take too long. I think Bezos' plan makes more sense but I doubt he has the funding or internal government leverage to get there before China. And in the next two years the US…
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"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.”" https:// arstechnica.com/space/2026/11/…
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I hope they do it, further cementing the American Century of Humiliation.
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I mean it's not funding. China is not winning the race because they are putting more money into it. US space program is plagued with corruption and it's effectively a job program for companies (not the people) to keep the companies that were working on the Shuttle happy. If NASA was allowed to prioritize performance and cost, we would have a much…
- Nov 2
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Get real. You'd have better luck getting legislation passed to somehow literally start building new Saturn Vs and Apollo hardware, complete with resurrecting all the 1960s technology, before you'd get legislation passed to send a constitutional amendment to the states to create a fourth branch of government. Let alone getting the states to ratify…
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I think China is more likely to achieve the next moon landing before NASA gets there again. When they announced space plans in the past they have pretty much succeeded. # space https:// arstechnica.com/space/2026/11/ china-releases-timeline-for-lunar-landing-on-the-moon-targeting-before-2030/
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Depends what metric you go on. Taking $100 million per launch (the current early market rate) it's about $2.2 billion (one SLS). But assuming that SpaceX will reuse some, it's more likely to be around $50 million, meaning $1.1 billion. But that assumes no total failures or major disasters. For context one Saturn V launch cost $185 million per…
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If you mean we should just make the payload smaller thats not possible inside the alotted time frame. It would require total redesigns of the rockets involved. You can't just put a second and third stage on top of a super heavy booster and call it a day. It would also be entirely pointless for the US to do because we already did that and it…
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This kind of competition is exactly what usually solves political funding issues. We rested on our laurels after the USSR essentially surrendered in the space race. The ISS and shuttle were treated as jobs programs and prestige for Congress members who got NASA facilities in their districts more than programs to expand our reach. Human nature is…
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Because orbital infrastructure is just not viable with how strong gravity is on Earth. So any sort of future space colonization must begin with moon-based infrastructure which requires we do everything there. The problem is we aren't ready to set-up self-sufficient habitats yet. However: A) Keeping at the cutting edge means that day we have that…
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Honestly they are close enough with starship that there is still a slim chance to beat China back. I mean it’s pretty simple to incentivize it. “Beat the Chinese back to the moon, and be awarded an immediate 50 billion dollar prize” Zero dollars for a failure. Humans need to land on moon, plant flag, collect samples, “build a rover from parts…
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You're being intensely misleading here. Just be honest with yourself- in the last 20 years, what company has done more for spaceflight than SpaceX? You may say that the capability to launch payloads into space has been around for 60 years, but the trend was that it was becoming more and more expensive. SpaceX took a different approach and focused…
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RE: https:// mastodon.social/@arstechnica/1 17547955868845816 # China 🇨🇳 is clearly making credible progress toward reaching the # Moon . There are major questions surrounding the development of a # NASA lunar lander. Depending on how the # SpaceX and # BlueOrigin projects go, a # US 🇺🇸 lunar landing could be delayed to 2030 or even later.
- Nov 1
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🌕 China plans to achieve its first crewed lunar landing before 2030, according to Wang Xiang, deputy chief designer of China's Manned Space Program. Three astronauts are planned for the mission, with two landing on the lunar surface.
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Starship is like the Shuttle in that it is simultaneously a spacecraft and the upper stage of its launch vehicle. This means it expends most of its fuel reaching Earth orbit and doesn't have enough to continue on to the Moon; thus, it has to be refuelled in space. The Saturn V reached orbit with only the first two out of three stages, leaving a…
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Starships theoretical advantage is that it costs less to put more mass on the Moon because they don't throw anything away... That's stretching the intent of the landers...If you're going to carry nuclear reactors, rovers, habitat modules on the Moon, you need landers to carry heavy mass. They're not going to make a permanent base made out of only…