China unveils space plan as lunar landing bids go on

The national space agency on Friday said it's planning to carry out two crewed spaceflights and a cargo resupply mission this year, while pointing to efforts in meeting the country's goal of sending astronauts to the moon by 2030. Of the missions planned, the China Manned Space Agency said an astronaut onboard Shenzhou-23 – a spacecraft scheduled for launch in April – would stay in orbit for a year as an experiment. Authorities also maintained that astronauts from Hong Kong and Macau are expected to take part in missions at the country's space station as early as this year. On the nation's lunar exploration, the agency said full efforts would be made this year to advance the construction of facilities and equipment required for landing missions at the Wenchang Space Launch Centre, as well as the building of other support systems. The development of major flight vehicles, such as the Long March 10 carrier rocket, the Mengzhou crewed spacecraft, and the Lanyue lunar surface lander, has been progressing smoothly, officials added. Edited by Tony Sabine