“China publicly discloses plan for a lunar landing within three years”

Key points

• Chinese officials disclosed plans to land astronauts on the Moon within three years.
• The timeline outlines missions leading to a crewed lunar landing before 2030.
• Initial tests include uncrewed Long March 10A/Mengzhou in low-Earth orbit by 2027.
• Later missions involve larger rockets, the Lanyue lander, and in-orbit docking by 2029.
• Goal is to beat NASA back to the lunar surface with a pre-2030 timeline.