Reference News Network August 12 report, Spain's "Razon" website August 10 published an article titled "China's Overall Plan to Defeat the United States in the Space Race: Becoming a Reality", authored by Esteban García Marcos. The following is the translated text of the article:

China's position in the global space race is continuously consolidating. Its space program has achieved a series of remarkable successes in a relatively short period of time.

As China's lunar exploration capabilities continue to strengthen, Beijing's roadmap is focusing on preparing for future human presence on the Moon, which is also an important goal of the international space agenda.

The Chinese lunar exploration program's missions are named after the goddess Chang'e from ancient mythology, and its logo cleverly incorporates the shape of the Chinese character "moon". The initial achievements were concentrated in the field of unmanned exploration, laying the foundation for subsequent stages.

In the early stage of the Chinese lunar exploration program, the Chang'e-1 probe was launched in October 2007. This mission was a complete success, providing detailed images of the lunar surface and identifying potential landing areas for the future.

Three years later, Chang'e-2 was successfully launched, conducting high-precision image acquisition and other tasks, and later conducted a flyby of an asteroid. This additional task tested its long-range communication and control systems.

The Chang'e-3 mission in 2013 was considered a milestone, as it completed China's first soft landing on the lunar surface and successfully deployed the "Yutu" lunar rover.

The Chang'e-4 probe successfully landed on the far side of the Moon in January 2019. This mission carried the "Yutu-2" lunar rover, the first rover to operate in this area.

Next, the Chinese lunar exploration program focused on sample return from the lunar surface. Chang'e-5 was launched in November 2020 and brought back 1,731 grams of lunar soil samples to Earth, marking the first time in 44 years that humans have obtained lunar samples.

The most recent mission was Chang'e-6, which was launched in May 2024 and successfully achieved sample return from the far side of the Moon.

The planned Chang'e-7 mission, scheduled for around 2026, and the subsequent Chang'e-8 mission will lay the foundation for sustained human presence on the Moon. These missions will focus on the in-situ utilization of lunar resources, aiming to extract useful materials and conduct related construction using the Moon's own resources.

China has announced its ambitions: to achieve the first Chinese manned landing on the Moon by 2030. This expedition will require a more powerful rocket, the Long March 10 rocket currently under development. It is reported that its lunar transfer orbit carrying capacity will be no less than 27 tons.

The Chinese astronauts expected to carry out the lunar landing mission will stay on the lunar surface, conduct intensive scientific research activities, and then return to Earth. It will represent another major advancement in lunar exploration.

At the same time, various equipment required for the manned lunar landing mission (such as spacecraft, landers, and space suits) are in active development. (Translated by Han Chao)

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7537544049918624275/

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