Apollo astronauts who flew to the Moon without landing. China has declared its intention to land an astronaut on the moon, in the first official confirmation of its aim to go where Americans last set foot nearly 40 years ago. Besides the 12 people who have walked on the Moon, 12 more have flown to within 0.001 lunar distance of its surface.

Chang’e 4 is set for lift-off in 2018. China mission lands on Moon's far side Second, as "a good way to show off". During each of the six missions with successful lunar landings, one astronaut remained in lunar orbit while the other two landed. "You could say that this is the space Silk Road - it demonstrates China is a force to be reckoned with," Prof Hayward notes. Next, China wants to: in 2009-2010, build a … In 2008, two Chinese astronauts performed spacewalks during the Shenzhou 7 three-person flight. It also released a rover, but it was hindered by terrain and communication problems. In 2013, China’s Chang’e 3, deploying the Jade Rabbit rover, makes the first soft landing on the moon since 1976. China then launched in 2007 an unmanned two-ton satellite called Chang'e to orbit the Moon for a year and record 3D images of the lunar surface. China successfully carried out the world's first soft landing of a space probe on the moon in nearly four decades, the country's state media announced on Saturday. China is making “preliminary” preparations to send a man to the moon, state media cited a senior space official as saying, the latest goal in China's ambitious lunar exploration programme.

China’s first lunar probe, known as Chang’e-3, landed on the near side of the moon in 2013.