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April 25, 2019
Beijing aims to build a scientific research station in the regions of the South Pole of the Moon in about ten years.
Taikonauts on the Moon in 2029? (Photo-montage, illustation) Image Credits: NASA/Apollo 11
The announcement comes as China has achieved in January a world first: the moon landing of a probe on the far side of the moon.
China will send a first manned mission to the moon "in a decade," said China's top space program chief, while the United States aims to return to lunar soil by 2024.
"China aims to build a scientific research station in the regions of the South Pole of the Moon and to carry out manned lunar missions in a decade," said the director of the National Administration of Space, Zhang Kejian, quoted by the news agency China News.
Beijing has for many years evoked an inhabited mission on the Moon but no precise date has ever been provided, experts usually rely on a date after 2025.
After a successful lunar landing
Mr. Zhang's announcement comes as the country has achieved a world premiere at the start of the year: the moon landing of a probe on the far side of the moon. The communist regime relies heavily on its space programs to glorify the country's technological progress in recent decades, in a race with the West that evokes Soviet-American space rivalry during the Cold War.
Animation above: Yutu-2 rover leave Chang'e-4 lander and start exploring the Von Karman Crater. Animation Credits: CNSA / CLEP / Orbiter.ch Aerospace / Roland Berga.
The words of the Chinese leader come less than a month after Washington announced a return of American astronauts to the moon in 2024, instead of 2028 as originally planned. The United States was the first and only one to send men to the moon between 1969 and 1972.
Zhang said Beijing plans to send its first probe to Mars next year. In addition to the probe currently on the far side of the moon, China also plans to send at the end of this year another machine responsible for bringing lunar samples back to Earth, he said.
Yutu-2 Lunar Rover. Image Credits: CNSA / CLEP
Witnessing the political dimension of these missions, Zhang said that lunar samples would be kept in Shaoshan (center), the hometown of Mao Tse-tung, the founder of the communist regime. China sent a first man into space in 2003 and achieved his first landing of a spacecraft 10 years later.
Related articles & links:
China's Chang'e-4 Probe Wakes Up after First Lunar Night
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2019/02/chinas-change-4-probe-wakes-up-after.html
China's Yutu-2 rover Enters Standby Mode for 'Noon Nap' as Chang'e 4 Tests Continue
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2019/01/chinas-yutu-2-rover-enters-standby-mode.html
Sending American Astronauts to Moon in 2024: NASA Accepts Challenge
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2019/04/sending-american-astronauts-to-moon-in.html
For more information about China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), visit: http://english.spacechina.com/n16421/index.html
For more information about China National Space Administration (CNSA), visit: http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/
Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: AFP/CNSA/CLEP/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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