China Announces Three-Year Plan for Crew Lunar Landing

China announced at its Seventh Manned Spaceflight Conference that it intends to land astronauts on the Moon within three years, targeting a crewed landing before 2030. Chief designer Wang Xiang outlined a series of missions that will culminate in a lunar‑orbit rendezvous, mirroring the approach used by NASA during the Apollo program. Because China does not yet possess a launch vehicle as powerful as the Saturn V, the crew module and lunar lander will be launched separately to the Moon. The program will rely on a combination of existing rockets and new propulsion systems to achieve the rendezvous and descent. The announcement marks the most detailed public roadmap China has released for its lunar ambitions and signals a rapid acceleration of its human‑spaceflight program.