MÈNGZHŌU (梦舟) — China, 2020/2026?

This new capsule is blunt at the top like a Dragon, and could in theory seat six or even seven, but will probably carry only three in practice, along with cargo. Interior volume is thirteen cubic meters, and it may be rather heavy. It has the option of an unusually substantial service module, like Apollo had — one that can carry ten tons of fuel, giving this far more delta-V than most other capsules. This would make it quite a capable spacecraft for going to the moon. There’s also a short version of the service module for near-Earth flights. The name Mengzhou could be literally translated as “Dreamboat”. But it was announced years before it got that name, and for much of its development it was known only as the Next-Generation Crewed Spacecraft (新一代载人飞船, XīnYīDài Zàirén Fēichuán).

Very little was known of this until 2020, shortly before the first test article was launched. As with Orion, they launched it into a high elliptical orbit and gave it a very fast and punishing reentry. Because of its chunky size, this required a Long March 5 — in fact, the maiden launch of the 5B. So like the Orion and the Orel, this is definitely being built to handle more than mere orbital flight. Like the Starliner, it uses airbags to land on dirt, and jettisons its heat shield first. The rest of the capsule is reusable... but that first test article landed with the paint deeply burnt over the whole surface, so a certain amount of refurbishment is called for. In one picture, the capsule appears to be shown with half of its skin removed, and deep thermal discoloration on the remaining skin, which was paintless. Nonetheless, they pronounced themselves satisfied with the heat shielding performance. More recent statements seem to suggest that the heat protection layer would need to be re-applied all over.

For launch escape it has a traditional tower on top, which is discarded before reaching orbit. They did a test of this escape tower, and judging by the exhaust smoke, it looks like the tower is using hypergolic fuel rather than the usual solid fuel. The only concerning aspect of this test is that after the capsule touched down on its airbags, it bounced over onto its side. They have an in-flight abort test coming up.

They also tested the tower at max-Q, putting it and the capsule onto the first prototype of the Long March 10 core stage, triggering the escape in the upper atmosphere at the most difficult moment, when the force of the supersonic headwind was at its strongest. The capsule splashed down at sea under its three parachutes (whether a sea landing is a backup option for live taikonauts, I don’t know). The LM-10 booster also successfully splashed down, aceing its first reusability test.

China is quite determined to put people on the moon, and this is the craft that will get them to lunar orbit atop the completed Long March 10, which started out as just a triple-booster Long March 5, but is more powerful as it burns kerosene. The two-person lander, which is being developed several years behind the capsule, will be called Lǎnyùe (揽月), which means “Embracing the Moon”. Their goal is to land it in 2029. For lunar missions the capsule would carry three, so one would stay in orbit as was done with Apollo. And as in Apollo, the lander has two stages, but unlike the old Lunar Module, it ditches the descent stage before the final approach to the ground. This simplifies the descent stage and allows the legs and other complex landing gear to be reused.