To the moon and back: China reveals first details of crewed lunar landing mission by 2030
- Lunar lander and crewed spacecraft to be sent on separate rockets for rendezvous and docking in orbit, senior engineer at Chinese space agency says
- China aims to be only the second country to land humans on the moon after the US, whose Apollo mission used one rocket for both lander and crew craft

If successful, the mission would make China only the second country after the United States to have achieved the feat.
China will use the lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) process for the mission, state media reported, citing a senior engineer at the national space agency.
The Chinese LOR process will be similar to that adopted by the US Apollo programme more than half a century ago.
But unlike the Apollo mission, which used one rocket to carry both the moon lander and the command spaceship into lunar orbit, China will be sending them aboard two separate rockets.
Zhang Hailian, deputy chief engineer at the China Manned Space Agency’s Engineering Office, said the lunar lander and crewed spacecraft would be sent separately for rendezvous and docking in orbit, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday.