China plans to land astronauts on the moon before 2030, which can be one other advancement in what is increasingly seen as a new space race.
The USA intends to put astronauts back on the lunar surface by the end of 2025.
China’s space agency deputy director Lin Xiqiang confirmed China’s destination at a press conference on Monday, but didn’t provide a specific date.
Lin also said China plans to expand its crewed orbital space station with a further module.
The new three-man crew is scheduled to head to Tiangong Station on Tuesday aboard the Shenzhou 16 ship and can briefly overlap the three astronauts already on board.
![Chinese astronauts Gui Haichao, Jing Haipeng and Zhu Yangzhu address the press at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on May 29, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/AP23149179223188.jpg?w=1024)
The fresh crew includes a civilian for the first time. All previous crew members had been in the People’s Liberation Army, the military wing of the country’s ruling Communist Party.
Gui Haichao, a professor at Beijing’s leading aerospace research institute, will join mission commander Jing Haipeng and spacecraft engineer Zhu Yangzhu as a payload expert.
China accomplished the construction of the Tiangong space station in November with the third of three modules centered around the Tianhe Habitation and Command Module.
![Jing Haipeng, a Chinese astronaut on the upcoming Shenzhou-16 mission, salutes behind glass during a press briefing at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, May 29, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/AP23149158992943.jpg?w=1024)
China’s first manned space mission in 2003 made China the third country after the former Soviet Union and the US to send a man into space.
China built its own station after being excluded from the International Space Station, mainly due to US objections to the close ties between China’s space programs and the PLA.
Space is increasingly seen as a new arena of rivalry between China and the United States, the world’s two largest economies and rivals for diplomatic and military influence.
![Chinese astronauts taking part in the upcoming Shenzhou-16 mission, front to back, Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao arrive for a press meeting at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, May 29, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/AP23149158979295.jpg?w=1024)
Astronauts sent by NASA to the Moon by the end of 2025 will aim for the South Pole, where permanently shadowed craters are thought to be crammed with frozen water.
Each countries are also considering plans for everlasting manned bases on the moon, raising questions on rights and interests on the lunar surface.
US law strictly limits cooperation between the two countries’ space programs, and while China says it welcomes foreign cooperation, to this point it has been limited to scientific research.
As well as to the lunar programs, the US and China have also landed on Mars, and Beijing plans to follow the US in landing a spacecraft on an asteroid.