China appears to be making steady progress toward sending astronauts to the Moon, while major uncertainties remain around the United States’ lunar-lander development. Depending on how projects led by SpaceX and Blue Origin progress under multibillion-dollar development agreements, the US Moon landing could slip to 2030 or later.
China advances its lunar-landing plans
It is extremely difficult for outsiders to verify technological milestones inside China’s space program. However, the country has demonstrated consistent progress toward a crewed lunar mission. In August 2025, the China Manned Space Administration successfully tested a high-fidelity mockup of the 26-ton Lanyue lunar lander.
The test took place near Beijing and used a large tether to simulate the Moon’s gravity. The vehicle fired its main engine and precisely controlled its thrusters to land on a cratered surface before taking off again.
A Mengzhou spacecraft intended for tests in 2027 was recently mounted on a Long March 10A rocket and arrived at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China’s Hainan province.
US lawmakers press to accelerate Artemis
Although the US government’s assessment of China’s space program has been limited, lawmakers are clearly taking the perceived challenge seriously. Over the past 12 months, Congress and the White House have given NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman broad authority to streamline the Artemis program and accelerate a crewed lunar landing.
Isaacman moved quickly to cancel the Lunar Gateway space station and plan upgrades to the Space Launch System rocket. Last week, he also announced plans to help Blue Origin develop its lunar lander by finding a way to propel the Orion spacecraft into low lunar orbit.
“We have the mission, the resources and the support from our stakeholders to get the job done, and that’s what we’re going to do,” he said at the time.
A longer-term competition
In recent years, China has made a substantial commitment to landing astronauts on the Moon, ideally before the United States returns, to achieve what would be a major geopolitical victory. Beyond this immediate competition, both NASA and China’s space program are developing capabilities for a sustained presence at the lunar south pole.
As part of this second phase of the competition, Isaacman committed NASA to developing a lunar base within the next 10 years.
Source: arstechnica.com
