Next Moon Walkers Will Speak Mandarin

China, it seems to me, will be the next country to land men on the Moon, at least how things stand geopolitically right now. The United States is not serious about returning, and Russia does not have the resources.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) was formed in the murky depths of late 1950s Cold War communism. Focusing primarily on missile launch capability, it was not until the 90s that the agency turned to manned space exploration. That goal was not fully realized until October of 2003, when China launched her first manned flight, Shenzhou 5.

Over the next decade, eleven Chinese men and women have traveled out into space.

In the early years of this century, the CNSA began work on the CLEP – the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. Much like the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs of the 60s and 70s, CLEP is using incremental goals to get the Chinese to the Moon, with a deadline of 2029.

The first step were lunar orbiters. Chang’e 1 was launched in October of 2007 and made China the third nation to successfully send hardware to orbit the Moon. Chang’e 2, also successful, followed three years later.

Chang’e is the name of the Chinese moon goddess.

In December of 2013, Chang’e 3 launched and successfully soft-landed on the moon thirteen days later. Five years after that Chang’e 4 lifted off and landed at the south pole of the far side of the Moon on January 3 of this year. Chang’e 4 contains a lander and a rover and has been exploring the lunar surface since that time. In fact, Chinese engineers expect it to operate for several years, though the mission has been planned out to last twelve months.

Chang’e 5, a sample return mission, is slated for launch in December of 2019.

Chang’e 6, 7, and 8 will be orbiters and rovers looking to scout out the Moon for manned exploration. They are scheduled for lift-off at intervals between 2023 and 2027. And, if that’s not enough to keep Beijing busy, the CNSA is also planning to complete its Earth orbiting space station between 2020 and 2023. (China’s first prototype station, Tiangong-1, was intentionally burnt up on re-entry in April of 2018, after seven years in orbit serving as practice for docking with Shenzhou spacecraft.)

And once Chinese feet step on the moon, an outpost will possibly be built, perhaps with international cooperation, perhaps not.

Now, China is a closed society, and how much of this should be viewed as Pollyanna-ish or with massive grains of salt remains to be seen. But she has sent eleven people into space and has orbited and landed on the Moon. The momentum seems to be there.

The question remains, will the United States wake up at some point in the next decade?