China has revealed new details of its first ever astronaut landing on the moon

By: Maksim Panasovskyi | 15.07.2023, 12:21
China has revealed new details of its first ever astronaut landing on the moon

The US and China are independently developing their own lunar programmes. Chinese broadcaster CCTV aired a story that revealed several new details about the upcoming landing of astronauts on the surface of the satellite.

Here's What We Know

The main thing we learnt from the story is that the landing and command modules will go into space on different rockets. The spacecraft will dock in orbit of the moon, after which two crew members will transfer from the command module to the landing module.

In both cases, China will use Long March 10 rockets. The carrier is still in development. The moon landing is planned for 2030, and by the middle of the next decade China wants to build a base there for the permanent presence of its astronauts.

Once the mission is complete, the crew will return to orbit in the landing module and transfer to the command module. Next, the capsule will return the astronauts to Earth.

Note that the US will also use two rockets to send people to the moon. The crew will fly to orbit in the Orion spacecraft on a Space Launch System rocket, while the landing module will be delivered by a Starship rocket system.

The first landing is scheduled for 2025. After the completion of the Artemis III mission, SpaceX's spacecraft will not return to Earth due to fuel shortages. It will remain in orbit of the moon along with the spacesuits. The suits will not be able to be transported back to our planet due to limited space in the Orion capsule. Although some elements of the spacesuits the crew will be able to take with them. For example, gloves.

Source: scmp