{"id":475824,"date":"2026-02-12T20:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T20:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/475824\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T20:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T20:45:10","slug":"10-9-8-rocket-test-puts-china-neck-and-neck-with-us-in-moon-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/475824\/","title":{"rendered":"10, 9, 8 &#8230; rocket test puts China neck and neck with US in moon race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">China\u2019s latest rocket test has put the country neck and neck with the US in the race to the moon, with crewed landings before 2030 a realistic goal for both nations, according to analysts.<\/p>\n<p>During Wednesday\u2019s eight-minute flight from southern Hainan province, China successfully <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/science\/article\/3343144\/chinas-mengzhou-spacecraft-passes-key-test-2030-crewed-moon-mission-long-march-10-rocket?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">tested two major components of its crewed lunar system<\/a>: a mid-air escape of the Mengzhou crew capsule and a full launch, re-entry and splashdown of the moon rocket\u2019s core stage.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Rand Simberg, an aerospace engineer and space policy analyst based in Wyoming, called the test \u201ca significant milestone for the Chinese moon programme\u201d, adding that \u201cthey\u2019re probably now ready to put crew on it\u201d.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Jonathan McDowell, a space historian and former Harvard astronomer, described testing both the rocket and crew capsule for the first time on the same flight as a bold move that likely reflected China\u2019s high confidence in the system.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Mengzhou spacecraft separates from the Long March-10 carrier during Wednesday\u2019s escape test and first flight for the heavy-lift new generation rocket. Photo by CNS\/AFP\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/7ab3d192-85e2-4fd1-9322-5d897fcce757_890a6464.jpg\" title=\"The Mengzhou spacecraft separates from the Long March-10 carrier during Wednesday\u2019s escape test and first flight for the heavy-lift new generation rocket. Photo by CNS\/AFP\"\/>The Mengzhou spacecraft separates from the Long March-10 carrier during Wednesday\u2019s escape test and first flight for the heavy-lift new generation rocket. Photo by CNS\/AFP<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">These milestones came as Nasa prepares to launch Artemis II \u2013 a crewed mission to loop around the moon without landing \u2013 as soon as next month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"China\u2019s latest rocket test has put the country neck and neck with the US in the race to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[3368,2574,216873,64,63,28901,34986,512,56623,70574,11917,126001,242376,131,242375,128,285,5437,1055],"class_list":["post-475824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-alabama","tag-amazon","tag-artemis-program","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blue-moon","tag-blue-origin","tag-china","tag-hainan-island","tag-harvard","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-jonathan-mcdowell","tag-mengzhou","tag-nasa","tag-rand-simberg","tag-science","tag-space","tag-spacex","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}