China plans to send two rockets to the moon by 2030, one carrying the spacecraft that will land on the surface and the other transporting the astronauts.
Both the rockets will enter the moon's orbit and after a successful docking the astronauts will enter the lunar lander to descend onto the moon's surface, state media reported on Wednesday, citing a China Manned Space Agency engineer.
After the astronauts have completed their scientific tasks and collected samples, the lander will transport the astronauts back to the orbiting spacecraft, on which they will return to Earth, said Zhang Hailian, deputy chief engineer at the China Manned Space, at a summit in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
Establishing lunar habitats could help support future crewed missions to other planets such as Mars.
