China Plans First Launch of Long March 10 Rocket and Lunar-Capable Crew Spacecraft Next Year
China aims to conduct the first launch of its Long March 10 rocket and a lunar-capable crew spacecraft next year, according to a top official from the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO). This announcement comes as the U.S. prepares to send its Artemis 2 crewed mission around the moon as soon as February 2026.
“The Long March 10 carrier rocket, the Mengzhou crew spacecraft, the Lanyue lunar lander, the Wangyu lunar suit, and the Exploration crew lunar rover have completed the main work of the prototype stage,” said Zhang Jingbo, spokesperson for China’s human spaceflight program, on October 30 during a pre-launch press conference for the Shenzhou-21 mission at Jiuquan spaceport.
Zhang also revealed that logo design competitions scheduled for next year will feature not only the Tianzhou-10 cargo spacecraft and the Shenzhou-22 and Shenzhou-23 crewed spacecraft missions, but also the logo for the Mengzhou-1 crew spacecraft mission. This indicates the planned first launch of the Mengzhou spacecraft.
While not explicitly stated, Mengzhou will likely fly aboard a two-stage, single-stick variant of the Long March 10 rocket, which is used for low Earth orbit (LEO) missions. In contrast, the full three-stage Long March 10 designed for lunar flights measures 92.5 meters tall and utilizes three 5.0-meter-diameter first stages bundled together. Each first stage is powered by seven YF-100K variable thrust kerosene-liquid oxygen engines.
Zhang did not confirm whether the first flight will be crewed or uncrewed, nor whether the mission would dock with the Tiangong space station. It is worth noting that China launched a full-size, boilerplate version of Mengzhou—available in both LEO and lunar variants—into high-altitude orbit during the Long March 5B test flight in 2020.
China has publicly committed to landing its astronauts on the moon before 2030. The recent update reveals that work on related hardware is progressing well. Completed tests in recent months include static fires of a shortened first stage test article of the Long March 10 rocket, a pad abort test for the Mengzhou crew spacecraft, and a takeoff and landing test for the Lanyue crew lander.
Upcoming tests are planned to include a static fire of a full Long March 10 first stage, a low-altitude flight test of the stage, integrated testing of the lunar lander, as well as thermal and maximum dynamic pressure escape tests for Mengzhou. CMSEO has not yet provided a timeline for these activities.
Zhang reiterated China’s commitment to the lunar landing goal by 2030 but emphasized the significant challenges and workload involved. “Regarding the specific timeline, we remain steadfast in our goal of achieving a Chinese lunar landing by 2030. It should be noted that many new technologies still need to be verified, the product development workload is substantial, the quality requirements are high, the flight test schedule is tightly coordinated, and progress is tight, presenting various risks and challenges,” Zhang stated.
Meanwhile, the U.S. officially aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface in 2027 with the Artemis 3 mission, though NASA’s acting administrator announced on October 20 plans to “open up the contract” held by SpaceX for the landing, as it has fallen behind schedule. Preparations for NASA’s Artemis 2 launch could also be impacted if the nearly month-long government shutdown continues, according to an industry executive.
On commercial participation in China’s human spaceflight program, Zhang explained that CMSEO has adopted a commercial competition model in areas such as low-cost cargo transportation to Tiangong, crewed lunar rovers, and lunar remote sensing satellites, successfully attracting commercial involvement in project development.
“Going forward, the project will also adopt a commercial competition model in the development of scientific payloads, such as the lunar surface science probe platform and the impact crater probe platform, further promoting the participation of commercial spacefaring companies in the project’s development,” Zhang added.
