China Plans to Send Three Astronauts to the Moon — Two Will Land
Monday, November 2, 2026166 words3 minutes618 reads
China has shared more details of its plan to land astronauts on the Moon before 2030. Three people will travel there, but only two will reach the surface. The third will remain in a spacecraft orbiting the Moon. Officials discussed the plan in Beijing on October 31.
The mission will use two rocket launches. One will carry the Lanyue lander, while the other will carry the Mengzhou spacecraft and its crew. The vehicles will meet and connect in lunar orbit. This connection is called docking. Two astronauts will then transfer into Lanyue and descend to the surface.
After carrying out scientific work, the pair will take off in the lander and meet Mengzhou again. All three astronauts will return to Earth together. The waiting spacecraft is therefore essential to completing the journey safely.
The landing remains a plan, not a completed mission. Engineers still need to test equipment, including an uncrewed lander flight. The exact landing date and the crew members' names have not been announced.
