China has ability but no plan for manned moon mission

[BalanceOfPower]

China has ability but no plan for manned moon mission: expert

Xinhua
2015-03-08

A Shenzhou IV reentry capsule on display at an aviation technology expo in Sichuan province, Oct. 17, 2014. (File photo/CNS)

The world's third country to soft-land on the moon has the ability to achieve a manned lunar landing but it has no plan to do so, a leading Chinese space scientist said Friday.

"With China's current technologies for manned space flight and moon probes, we have the technological basis to realize a manned lunar mission," said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space program.

But the scientist said his nation has no plan to land its astronauts on the moon for the time being.

Zhou, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, the country's top political advisory body, also said that challenges and a lot of preparation precede the realization of the manned lunar mission.

For example, it requires the research and development of a bigger carrier rocket and the bigger and more sophisticated manned spacecraft, he added.

The Chang'e-3 lunar probe, composed of a lander and China's first moon rover, named Yutu, soft-landed on the moon in 2013, making China the third country to carry out such a mission after the United States and the Soviet Union.