Chinese space program

China plans to land astronauts on the moon before 2030, which would be another advance in what's increasingly seen as a new space race.

The U.S. aims to put astronauts back on the lunar surface by the end of 2025.

Deputy Director of the Chinese Manned Space Agency Lin Xiqiang confirmed China's goal at a news conference yesterday but gave no specific date.

Fuel leaks have forced NASA to scrub the launch of its new moon rocket on a no-crew test flight.

The next launch attempt will not take place until Friday at the earliest.

The 322-foot Space Launch System rocket was set to lift off Monday morning with three test dummies aboard on its first flight, a mission to propel a capsule into orbit around the moon.

A new Chinese carrier rocket made its first flight on Tuesday under a long-term plan to develop reusable launch vehicles aimed at reducing mission costs and speed up launch schedules for commercial clients.

The medium-lift Long March 8 Y-1 blasted off at 12:37 p.m. (0437 GMT) from the southern Chinese island of Hainan carrying five satellites, state media reported.

China will launch a new space satellite in orbit in the second half of April. The machine will be named "Wuhan" in honor of Chinese citizens fighting the coronavirus epidemic, People reported. The launch will be carried out using a Kuizhou-1A solid propellant rocket.

China will begin recruiting civilian astronauts for its military-backed space program and plans to increase the number of crewed missions to around two a year, a top official with the country’s space program said.

A Russian lunar base will be built in the period 2040 - 2050 on the Moon. The preparation for the project will start in 2031 - 2040 and the construction site will be selected by 2030. According to the presentation of the Missile Energy Space Corporation in 2050, exploration of the Moon's resources will begin, reports TASS.