The Lanyue (Chinese: 揽月; pinyin: lǎn yuè; lit. 'embracing the Moon'), known during early development as the China crewed lunar surface lander, is a spacecraft under development by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) for China's crewed lunar missions. Astronauts will travel to low lunar orbit aboard the Mengzhou spacecraft, where they will dock with a waiting Lanyue, launched autonomously by a separate Long March 10 rocket. Two astronauts then will transfer to the empty lander and proceed to attempt a landing on the lunar surface; the lander will return the astronauts to low lunar orbit after a period of surface operations. The first lunar landing attempt is planned for before 2030. Lanyue consists of a propulsion stage and a landing and ascent stage; unlike the Apollo Lunar Module, Lanyue will jettison its propulsion stage prior to landing.
Nomenclature The spacecraft's name, Lanyue (lit. 'embracing the Moon'), derives from a line in Mao Zedong's 1965 poem "Climbing Jinggang Mountain", in which embracing the Moon is described as an aspiration. It's companion crewed spacecraft's name, Mengzhou (梦舟; 'dream vessel') references the goal of lunar exploration and has been associated with Xi Jinping's Chinese Dream concept. Commentators have described the pairing of references to Xi Jinping and Mao Zedong in the spacecraft names as symbolically linking the two leaders. The names were announced in February 2024 following a public naming competition.
Overview Since at least August 2021, Western news media has reported that China's main spacecraft contractor was working on a human-rated landing system for lunar missions. On 12 July 2023, at the 9th China (International) Commercial Aerospace Forum in Wuhan, Hubei province, Zhang Hailian, a deputy chief designer with the CMSA, publicly introduced a preliminary plan to land two astronauts on the Moon by the year 2030. Under this plan, the astronauts will conduct scientific work upon landing on the Moon, including the collection of lunar rock and regolith samples. After a short stay on the lunar surface, they will carry the collected samples back into lunar orbit in their spacecraft and subsequently, to Earth. The preliminary plan describes a 'landing segment' that consists of a new lunar-module attached to a propulsion-module which together are to be launched autonomously into a trans-lunar injection (TLI) orbit by the under-development Long March 10 rocket. The twin-module arrangement is somewhat analogous to the lander-orbiter architecture of the 2020 Chang'e 5 and the 2024 Chang'e 6 robotic lunar sample-return missions; however, unlike the orbiters for the robotic missions, the propulsion module for the overall spacecraft will descend from lunar orbit together with the crewed lunar module rather than remaining in lunar orbit. (The propulsion module will undergo a controlled impact landing on the Moon after it separates from the crewed lunar module during the final stages of the descent, while the crewed module itself makes a powered soft landing).
Development history On 24 April 2024, Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), stated that the initial development of various products for China's lunar missions, including the Lanyue lander, is complete; according to Lin, mechanical and thermal articles for the lander and other mission segments have been constructed and the requisite rocket engines are undergoing hot fire tests. Lin further elaborated that prototype production and tests are in full swing and that the crewed lunar exploration launch site is currently under construction near the existing coastal Wenchang spaceport in Hainan province. On 29 October 2024, CMSA announced that a separation test for the two modules of the landing system (presumably the lander and its propulsion stage) had been carried out. On 7 August 2025, CMSA announced that integrated landing and ascent tests have been successfully carried out using a lunar module test article at a facility located in Huailai County in Hebei Province. These tests verified the craft's landing and takeoff systems, control systems, lunar contact shutdown procedures, and the compatibility of interfaces between subsystems, including guidance, navigation and control as well as the propulsion system. CMSA also indicated that mechanical tests simulating the impact of launch on the landing stack have been carried out. Tests to verify the craft's response to the thermal environment of cislunar space have also been carried out.
Attributes
A model of the under-development crew-capable lunar lander was unveiled at an exhibition to mark three decades of China's human spaceflight program on 24 February 2023 at the National Museum of China in Beijing. The physical model of the under-development lunar module, when considered together with the presentation by Zhang Hailian on 12 July 2023, suggests the future spacecraft will have the following components: four 7500-newton main engines, numerous attitude-control thrusters for precise maneuvering, a stowed lunar rover capable of carrying two astronauts, docking mechanisms (for docking with the Mengzhou spacecraft), a crew hatch (for EVAs), a ladder attached to one of the landing legs, two solar arrays, various antennaes and sensors. The estimated mass of the fully-fuelled spacecraft (lunar-module plus propulsion-module) is approximately 26,000 kg (57,000 lb). According to a statement in August 2025 by Wang Xiaolei of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the Lanyue lunar module will be capable of automatic detection of lunar surface hazards and will autonomously maneuver to avoid said obstacles: "...the lander (can) automatically identify and avoid obstacles, autonomously selecting a suitable landing site for a safe touchdown."
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