The spacecraft names that China expects to send Chinese astronauts to the moon by the end of the decade have been made public by the country’s space agency.

The China Manned Space Agency stated in a press release over the weekend that work on the lander Lanyue, also known as Embracing the Moon, the spacecraft Mengzhou, also known as Dream Vessel, and the super-heavy-lift carrier rocket Long March 10 were all “progressing well.”

These spacecraft are part of Beijing’s ambitious program aimed at solidifying its position as a major space power.

Although it has not yet announced a timetable, China has stated that it plans to launch a human lunar mission by 2030 in an effort to become just the second nation to land astronauts on the moon.

The Mengzhou spacecraft consists of a service module for power and propulsion systems and a reentry module for housing people and acting as the control center. According to official media, the car will weigh 22 metric tons and be approximately 9 meters long.

According to rumors, the 200-kg rover and two humans will fit on board the Lanyue lunar lander.

According to the space agency, a panel of specialists selected the craft’s names from almost 2,000 suggestions received from the general public.

“Lanyue” first appeared in a poem written by the People’s Republic of China founder Mao Zedong in 1965, and “symbolizes the Chinese people’s aspiration and confidence in their exploration of the universe and expedition to the moon,” the agency said.

The “Chinese nation’s dream of landing on the moon” is associated with the name Mengzhou, it continued.

Beijing’s space program has long been linked to President Xi Jinping’s “Chinese dream,” which aims to “rejuvenate” the nation and establish Beijing as a major player on the international stage, notably in terms of technology.

China’s lunar aspirations coincide with the rise in space programs across other nations, as they consider the possible advantages for science, access to resources, and national prestige that successful moon missions and other advancements could provide, as well as the opportunity to explore deeper space.

NASA announced last month that it would put humans on the moon in 2026, one year later than planned, as part of the United States’ increased lunar mission. Since the US’s Apollo flights in the late 1960s and early 1970s, that would be a first.

The commercial Odysseus lunar lander, created by Intuitive Machines, made history last week by becoming the first American-built spacecraft to land on the moon in fifty years.

Japan’s robotic explorer “Moon Sniper” made a lunar landing in January. Japan became the third nation to land on the moon this century and the fifth overall with the landing. That list included India last year.

With its unmanned Chang’e missions, Beijing has advanced lunar landings in recent years. In 2019, China became the first nation to land on the moon’s far side, making history.

Later this year, Chang’e-6, the next unmanned mission, is scheduled to launch and return with the first samples ever taken from the moon’s far side.

In addition, China anticipates that its next missions would gather information for a different lunar objective: by 2040, it wants to build a permanent international research base on the lunar south pole.