China expects to land the first astronauts on the moon before 2030.
The details of the mission were presented by the chief designer of China's lunar exploration program, Wang Xiang, at the 7th Symposium on the Manned Space Program in Beijing, Xinhua reports.
Two long March 10 rockets will launch the Lanyue lander and the Mangzhou manned spacecraft into lunar orbit, where they will then dock.
The crew will consist of three people, two of whom will go down to the surface of the moon to conduct research, and then return to the ship.
Before the manned mission, China plans to conduct three unmanned technological experiments in lunar orbit.