Continuing its bold space plans, China has unveiled a five-year white paper that calls for putting astronauts on the moon, which would make it the first nation to visit since the U.S. last set foot there some 40 years ago.
"China will conduct studies on the preliminary plan for a human lunar landing," the State Council white paper says, also calling for deep-space exploration of planets and asteroids.
It does not give a timeline for the moonshot, but is seen as an official declaration of China's lunar goals.
The plans come as U.S. manned spaceflight is on hold, with NASA's space shuttle fleet retired and International Space Station missions dependent on Russian rockets. While President George W. Bush called for a return to the moon by 2020, President Obama canceled the program due to high costs but has proposed sending Americans to an asteroid by 2025.
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