Chinese ship to fly to the moon will be called «Dream Shuttle»

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BEIJING, Feb. 24China's new generation manned spacecraft has been named «Mengzhou» («Dream Shuttle»), and the lunar landing module has been named «Lanyue» («Embrace the Moon» ), both devices are at the prototype development stage, follows from a message from the management of the Chinese manned space flight program.
“The names of the new vehicles for the Chinese manned lunar exploration mission were recently determined: the new generation manned spacecraft will be called Mengzhou (Dream Shuttle), and the lunar lander will be called Lanyue (Embrace the Moon),” it says in the control message.

It is noted that the names of the new vehicles reflect the characteristic features of the time and cultural characteristics of China.

The name «Mengzhou» («Dream Shuttle») means that manned missions to the Moon embody the space dream of the Chinese people and mark the beginning of a new journey of space exploration.
China is developing a new generation of manned spacecraft in two modifications: the Mengzhou ship will become a replacement for the currently used Shenzhou spacecraft to deliver astronauts from Earth to the Chinese Tiangong orbital station, and the Mengzhou-Y modification ships «will be used for manned missions to the Moon.
The lander that will carry Chinese astronauts to the surface of the Earth's natural satellite in the future is named «Lanyue» («Embrace the Moon»), it is noted that this is a reference to a poem written by Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong in 1965. At the same time, the department added that the word «Lanyue» symbolizes the courage and confidence of the Chinese people in space exploration and the implementation of a manned mission to the Moon.

China launched a competition in August 2023 to select names for its next-generation manned spacecraft and lunar lander. Many fans of manned space exploration in China, both individuals and legal entities, took part in the competition. In total, over two thousand proposals were received. Among the requirements were that the name must be written in a positive manner, reflect the core values ​​of the Chinese manned program and contain no more than four characters.

The department also reported that the Mengzhou manned spacecraft, lunar lander and Long March 10 launch vehicle are currently at the prototype development stage, and work is progressing well.
Zhang Hailiang, deputy chief engineer of the People's Republic of China's Manned Space Flight Program Office, previously said that China plans to land a man on the lunar surface by 2030 to conduct scientific research.
At the same time, Long Lehao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Sciences and an expert on launch vehicles and space technology, said that China could send a manned mission to the Moon by 2030 using two modified Long March 5 rockets.
According to the preliminary mission plan, the first Long March 5DY launch vehicle should launch a lunar lander, which will subsequently enter lunar orbit. The second rocket will be used to launch a new generation manned spacecraft, which will also enter first the Earth-Moon transfer orbit, and then into the orbit of the Moon.

Next, already in lunar orbit, the landing module and the spacecraft will rendezvous and dock, two astronauts will transfer from the ship to the descent module, which will separate and make a soft landing on the surface of the Moon. The astronauts must spend six hours on the surface of the Earth's natural satellite, after which they will leave the Moon in a module for takeoff. The module will then dock with a manned spacecraft, which will later deliver the astronauts into Earth orbit, and they will return to Earth aboard the return capsule.