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HELSINKI — China aims to conduct the first launch of its Long March 10 rocket and a lunar-capable crew spacecraft next year, according to a top official.
The announcement from the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) comes as the U.S. prepares to send its Artemis 2 crewed mission around the moon as soon as February 2026.
“The Long March 10 carrier rocket, the Mengzhou crew spacecraft, the Lanyue lunar lander, the Wangyu lunar suit, and the Exploration crew lunar rover have completed the main work of the prototype stage,” Zhang Jingbo, spokesperson for China’s human spaceflight program, said Oct. 30 at a pre-launch press conference for the Shenzhou-21 mission at Jiuquan spaceport.
Zhang added that logo design competitions next year will include not only the Tianzhou-10 cargo spacecraft and the Shenzhou-22 and Shenzhou-23 crewed spacecraft missions, but also the logo for the Mengzhou-1 crew spacecraft mission, indicating the planned first launch of the spacecraft.
Though not explicitly stated, Mengzhou will likely fly on a two-stage, single-stick variant of the Long March 10, which is used for low Earth orbit (LEO) missions. The full, three-stage, 92.5-meter-tall Long March 10 for lunar flights will use three 5.0-meter-diameter first stages bundled together, each powered by seven YF-100K variable thrust kerosene-liquid oxygen engines.
Zhang did not state if the first flight would be crewed or uncrewed, nor if the mission would head to the Tiangong space station. China launched a full size, boiler plate version of Mengzhou—which comes in both LEO and lunar variants—into a high altitude orbit with the test flight of the Long March 5B in 2020.
China has publicly committed to the goal of landing its astronauts on the moon before 2030. The update reveals that work on the hardware needed for the mission appears to be progressing well.
Completed tests in recent months include static fires of a shortened first stage test article of the Long March 10 rocket, a pad abort test for the Mengzhou crew spacecraft, and a takeoff and landing test for the Lanyue crew lander.
Upcoming tests include a static fire of a full Long March 10 first stage and a low-altitude flight of the stage, an integrated testing of the lunar lander, and thermal and maximum dynamic pressure escape tests for Mengzhou. CMSEO has not provided a timeline for these activities.
Zhang reiterated China’s commitment to the lunar landing by 2030, but added that the challenges and workload were significant.
“Regarding the specific timeline, we remain steadfast in our goal of achieving a Chinese lunar landing by 2030. It should be noted that many new technologies still need to be verified, the product development workload is substantial, the quality requirements are high, the flight test schedule is tightly coordinated, and the progress is tight, presenting various risks and challenges,” Zhang said.
The U.S. officially aims to return astronauts to the surface of the moon in 2027 with the Artemis 3 mission, though NASA’s acting administrator said Oct. 20 he plans to “open up the contract” SpaceX holds for the landing as it has fallen behind schedule.
Meanwhile, preparations for NASA’s Artemis 2 launch could soon grind to a halt if the nearly month-long government shutdown continues, according to one industry executive.
Zhang was also asked about commercial participation in the human spaceflight program. He responded that CMSEO has adopted a commercial competition model in areas such as low-cost cargo transportation to Tiangong, crewed lunar rovers, and lunar remote sensing satellites, attracting commercial participation in the projects’ development.
“Going forward, the project will also adopt a commercial competition model in the development of scientific payloads such as the lunar surface science probe platform and the impact crater probe platform, further promoting the participation of commercial spacefaring companies in the project’s development,” Zhang said.
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