China’s human spaceflight agency has unveiled an exciting video outlining its ambitious plans for a crewed mission to the Moon, highlighting key advancements in the development of lunar hardware. The promotional video, released by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on November 21, offers both detailed animations of the planned mission activities and a closer look at the hardware currently being tested for the lunar mission.

Scheduled to take place before 2030, China’s historic moon landing will involve a two-stage launch of the Long March 10 rocket, which is still under development. The first stage will send a crewed spacecraft, named Mengzhou, into lunar orbit, while the second stage will deploy a lunar landing stack, called Lanyue. Once in lunar orbit, the two spacecraft will dock, allowing a pair of astronauts to transfer from Mengzhou to Lanyue and descend to the Moon’s surface.

The video also showcases several critical tests in the mission’s development. These include a hotfire test of the Long March 10 first stage, a parachute deployment test during an airdrop, and a separation test using a Lanyue prototype test article. In addition, viewers are given a glimpse of the advanced lunar extravehicular suit that astronauts will wear during their activities on the Moon, as well as progress on the Mengzhou crewed spacecraft and various other ground tests and facilities being developed for the mission.

This new footage provides a clear picture of the detailed work underway to make China’s first crewed mission to the Moon a reality, positioning the country to join the ranks of those who have successfully landed humans on the lunar surface.

By Impact Lab