China steps up preparations for planned 2030 crewed lunar mission

China is steadily advancing toward its goal of sending Chinese astronauts to the moon by around 2030, with major infrastructure construction set to accelerate this year, according to the China Manned Space Agency on Friday.

In a news release, the agency said that in 2026 "full efforts will be made to push forward the construction of facilities and equipment required for lunar landing missions at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province, as well as the construction of other ground support systems such as telemetry, tracking, command, communications and the landing site."

The agency said development of major flight vehicles including the Long March 10 heavy-lift carrier rocket, the Mengzhou crewed spacecraft and the Lanyue lunar lander, is progressing smoothly.

A series of critical tests have been completed in succession, including the pad abort and the maximum dynamic pressure escape flight tests for the Mengzhou, the landing and takeoff test for the Lanyue, and the static ignition and the low-altitude flight tests for the Long March 10, according to the agency.

Once realized, China's manned lunar program will make the country the second nation to land astronauts on the moon, significantly boosting its standing in global space exploration.

The United States successfully carried out six crewed Apollo missions between the 1960s and 1970s, sending 12 Americans to the lunar surface.

In a separate development, the agency said astronauts selected from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions are highly likely to undertake their first spaceflight this year.