China reaffirms commitment to crewed lunar mission by 2030

(ECNS) - China remains“firmly committed”to landing astronauts on the Moon before 2030, with preparations for the mission advancing smoothly, a spokesperson for China’s Manned Space Program said on Thursday.

Zhang Jingbo, the spokesperson, told a press conference on the Shenzhou-21 crewed mission at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center that China is making steady progress in developing flight vehicles, payload plans and ground systems, and has successfully completed several key tests for the mission this year.

Zhang said China will unveil the Mengzhou-1 crewed spacecraft mission logo next year. The Mengzhou-1 spacecraft is designed to support the lunar exploration mission, as well as operations with the near-Earth space station.

However, the project team still faces "risks and challenges," including heavy workload, high quality standards and tightly scheduled flight tests, according to Zhang.

He said that the team will ensure the "successful completion of all development tasks" and "lay a solid foundation for realizing the crewed lunar landing mission as planned."

(By Zhang Jiahao)