Under the scheme, two rockets would separately send the Lanyue lunar lander and Mengzhou crewed spaceship into the Earth-moon transfer orbit, and the two spacecraft would perform a rendezvous and docking in the lunar orbit. Astronauts would then transfer from the Mengzhou spaceship into the Lanyue lander for the descent to the lunar surface and subsequent scientific work.
Wang said the approach matches China’s existing technical capabilities and infrastructure, and the separate development of the spaceship and lunar lander can help standardize production and support the formation of a long-term family of vehicles.
While the plan also presents considerable challenges, Wang said the new system for mobilizing resources nationwide is the fundamental advantage for addressing them.
