China wants to put its first astronauts on the moon before 2027

China plans to carry out a “manned mission” to the Moon in the next five years, a period in which it will continue exploring the poles of the satellite, according to a document from the State Council (Executive) echoed today by the official agency of Xinhua news.

Although these are still plans, the deadline of 2027 represents an advance with respect to the last public forecasts of China: In November last year, one of the engineers of the space program, Ye Peijian, had declared that the arrival of Chinese astronauts on the Moon around 2030 would be “completely possible”.

The document, published this Friday, ensures that “China will continue its research and studies” with the aim of taking astronauts to the Moon.

Likewise, the Asian country is developing “a new generation” of manned ships to support Chinese exploration of the space between our planet and the Earth. Luna.

In the next five years, the Chinese space agency plans to send two lunar probes to the polar regions of the satellite, where there could be frozen water, explains Xinhua.

The future Chang’e 6 mission will collect and return moonstone samples from these areas to Earth.

Right now, part of its predecessor, the Chang’e 4 mission, is on the lunar surface.

The Yutu 2 vehicle, which is still in operation today, reached the Moon aboard the unmanned Chang’e-4 probe in 2019, when China became the first country to land on the far side of the star.

Recently, China approved the fourth phase of its Moon exploration program, which includes the construction in the next decade of a scientific exploration base at the south pole of the satellite, a task for which it will collaborate with Russia.

After signing the cooperation agreement with Moscow last year, the chief designer of the Chinese lunar exploration program, Wu Weiren, stated that “if the lunar research station project can be successfully implemented, China will not be far a manned landing on the Moon.

According to Xinhua, Chinese plans to land astronauts on the Luna they are the equivalent of the US project ‘Artemis’, which has the same goal for the year 2024.

The Council of State document also details the technological preparations by China to “collect samples from the Martian surface” and “explore the Jupiter system and the frontiers of the solar system” in the coming years.

Currently, three Chinese astronauts are in Earth orbit, where they continue to build the Chinese space station, Tiangong, which Beijing hopes to have ready by the end of this year.