Can China afford to go to the moon? （2008）

Chang'e-1 was China's first probe to land on the moon, but no man has ever landed on the moon.

Astronauts who have not been on the moon:

Neil Armstrong (Apollo XI) Buzz Aldrin (Apollo XI) Pete Conrad (Apollo XII) Alan Bean (Apollo XII) Alan Shepard (Apollo XIV) Edgar Mitchell (Apollo XIV) David Scott (Apollo XV) James Erwin (Apollo XV) John Young (Apollo XVI) Charles Duke (Apollo XVI) Eugene Sernan (Apollo XVII) Harrison M. Smit (Apollo XVII) Astronauts who did not go to the moon but were close to the moon Frank Berman (Apollo VIII) James Rowell (Apollo VIII, Apollo XIII) William Anders (Apollo VIII) Thomas Stafford (Apollo X) Michael Collins (Apollo XI) Richard Golden (Apollo XII, originally scheduled to be on another mission at Apollo XVIII, but cancelled) Jack Swiggert (Apollo XIII) Flender Hayes (Apollo XIII, Originally scheduled to be on Apollo XIX again, but cancelled) Stuart Rosa (Apollo XIV, scheduled to be on Apollo 20 again, but cancelled Alfred Walden (Apollo XV) Ken Madenley (Apollo XVI) Ronald Evans (Apollo XVII).

In the near future, China's lunar exploration should be aimed at not carrying astronauts to the moon, and it should be divided into three stages of development: orbiting, landing, and returning.

Orbiting, that is, the 'Chang'e-1' lunar orbiting project, which is the first phase of China's lunar exploration goal, is expected to be realized in about three yearsOn this basis, in another three to five years, China will also implement the second phase of the lunar exploration project, that is, the soft landing of the lunar surface and the patrol and survey of the lunar surfaceAfter that, we will also carry out the third phase of the project, that is, the lunar surface patrol survey and sample return, which is the so-called 'return'.

From manned spaceflight to manned lunar landing is a very complex system engineering, there are many technical problems to be overcome, and China still needs to break through a series of difficulties, such as the astronauts' exit from the capsule, the docking of spacecraft, the development of high-thrust rockets, and so on, which cannot be solved in a short period of time.

In addition, after all, China is the first time to explore the moon and the first time to launch a detection satellite to the moon, and the understanding of the moon is very limited, so only after the basic completion of the three stages of unmanned lunar exploration tasks, through the analysis of the basic data obtained from exploration, survey, and sampling, combined with the development of the international lunar exploration at that time and China's national conditions and national strength, can we choose the opportunity to carry out manned lunar exploration.

China has repeatedly stressed that lunar exploration is not a lunar landing, and the goal to be achieved in the near future is lunar exploration.

10,000 km The Moon is the closest celestial body to the Earth, at a distance of 10,000 km. Astronomers have long observed the moon in detail with telescopes and know almost everything about the moon's topography.