Global Courant 2023-05-29 23:42:42
Chinese space officials said Monday that the program plans to put astronauts on the moon and expand the space station before 2030.
The deputy director of China’s Manned Space Agency confirmed those targets at a press conference at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, but did not provide a timeline.
Deputy Director Lin Xiqiang told reporters that the country is first preparing for a “short stay on the lunar surface and joint human-robot exploration.”
“We have a fully manned near-Earth space station and a human return transport system,” he said.
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Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of China’s Manned Space Agency, center, speaks at a press conference at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China on Monday, May 29, 2023. China’s space program plans to put astronauts on the moon before 2030 land, a top official in the country’s space program said Monday. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Lin told the media that a schedule of two manned missions per year is “sufficient to achieve our objectives”.
The agency also introduced three astronauts who will launch aboard a Shenzhou 16 spacecraft to the Tiangong space station on Tuesday morning.
The astronauts replace a crew that has been in space for six months.
The new crew includes a civilian for the first time. Gui Haichao, a professor at Beijing’s top aerospace research institute, joins mission commander Jing Haipeng and spacecraft engineer Zhu Yangzhu as the payload expert.
Jing told reporters the mission marked “a new phase of application and development” in China’s space program.
Chinese astronauts for the upcoming Shenzhou-16 mission from left, Gui Haichao, Jing Haipeng and Zhu Yangzhu are seen behind glass at a press conference at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Monday, May 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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“We firmly believe that the spring of China’s space science has arrived and we have the determination, confidence and ability to decisively complete the mission,” said the major general, who has made three previous spaceflights.
China launched most of the station in 2021 and sent the last module in November last year.
Lin said a fourth module will be launched “at an appropriate time to advance support for science experiments and provide better working and living conditions for the crew.”
Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of China’s Manned Space Agency, center, speaks at a press conference at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Monday, May 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
China built its own station after being banned from the International Space Station, largely because of US objections to China’s space programs’ ties to the People’s Liberation Army, the military wing of the country’s ruling Communist Party.
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“Our country’s consistent position is that as long as the goal is to use space for peaceful purposes, we are ready to cooperate and communicate with any country or space agency,” said Li Yingliang, the technology director of the Chinese manned space agency. aerospace agency. .
“I personally regret that the US Congress has introduced relevant motions prohibiting aerospace cooperation between the US and China. I personally deeply regret that,” he added.
NASA aims to put astronauts back on the moon by the end of 2025.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Julia Musto is a reporter for Fox News and Fox Business Digital.
