China plans to realize manned lunar landing by 2030, announced the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) at a press conference on May 29.

Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA, said at the conference that China has recently initiated the lunar landing phase of its manned lunar exploration program.

The overall goal is to achieve China's first manned landing on the moon by 2030 and carry out lunar scientific exploration and related technological experiments, he added.

According to Lin, the goal also includes mastering the key technologies such as Earth-moon manned roundtrip, lunar surface short-term stay, human-robot joint exploration, accomplishing multiple tasks of landing, roving, sampling, researching and returning, and forming an independent capability of manned lunar exploration.