The missions are meant to lay the foundation for a lunar research base and visits by astronauts, or taikonauts, as the Chinese call them, in the 2030s. So far, only the American Apollo programs have put people on the moon.
Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, announced this spring that it would work with China on the construction of a lunar research station using its Luna spacecraft in coordination with coming Chang’e missions. The first Russia mission could launch as soon as October.
Future missions between the two countries will aim to bring back lunar samples and land the first building blocks of the base by 2030...
...In addition to the possibility of a future crewed mission to Mars, China is planning a single, 10-year mission to collect a sample from an asteroid and pass by a comet. It has also proposed orbiters for Venus and Jupiter. In 2024, it plans to launch an orbiting telescope similar to the Hubble, which first launched in 1990.
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