China’s plans to land astronauts on the Moon by the end of the decade now have a dedicated launch vehicle in active testing, with the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) laying out a detailed schedule for the Long March 10 rocket family. The Long March 10 is not a single rocket but a series of variants, each designed for specific missions ranging from crewed lunar landings to station resupply and commercial launches.
The target for a crewed lunar landing remains 2030, a goal that hinges on the development of the crew-rated Long March 10C. That variant will be capable of launching both a new-generation crew spacecraft and a lunar landing module, giving China the means to send astronauts to the surface.
Test Flights and Variants
CASC confirmed that the first member of the family, the Long March 10B, has completed its maiden flight and recovery. Additional test flights for the 10B are planned through 2024 and 2025, centering on validating reusability and reliability.
The 10B is the initial operational variant, designed as a reusable vehicle that can be recovered after launch. Next in line is the Long March 10A, a three-stage variant with a higher payload capacity. Its debut is expected in 2025, and its intended role is launching payloads to geostationary orbit. For the lunar mission itself, CASC is developing the Long March 10C, a crew-rated version that will handle the critical task of sending astronauts to the Moon.
Together, the family is being built as a multi-purpose workhorse, capable of supporting both low-Earth orbit operations and deep-space missions. The Tiangong space station, which became fully operational in 2023 with three modules, will also rely on the Long March 10 series for crew and cargo flights.
Robotic Foundation and Production Goals
China’s current lunar ambitions build directly on a series of robotic missions that began years earlier. The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP) has already achieved three robotic landings: Chang’e 3 in 2013, Chang’e 4 on the far side of the Moon in 2019, and Chang’e 5, which successfully returned samples to Earth in 2020.
These missions provided the engineering and scientific foundation for a crewed program. The idea of a dedicated Moon rocket first appeared at an aerospace exhibition in 2018, where a vehicle meant for lunar orbit was described. In subsequent years, several modified concepts were studied before the current Long March 10 design took shape under China’s crewed space program, which began decades earlier. CASC has announced plans for up to ten Long March 10B launches per year by 2026.
The broader goal across all Long March variants is 50 total launches annually. Those numbers signal an industrial scale that extends beyond lunar exploration.
The success of the Long March 10B is seen as a critical step toward two objectives: establishing a permanent Chinese presence on the Moon, and competing in the commercial launch market. Whether those timelines hold remains to be seen, but the test-flight schedule is now public and the hardware is flying. The Long March 10 family matters because it links China’s past robotic successes to a stated goal of putting people on the Moon before the end of the decade.
It also gives the country a reusable medium-lift option for station runs and the open launch market, potentially shifting how future space access is split among nations.
Sources
- China tests Long March 10 rocket in step toward 2030 moon landing
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