2026年8月23日 美国东部时间11:05 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/美联社
中国官方于周日宣布推迟原本计划的雄心勃勃的嫦娥七号月球探测任务，该任务原计划开展包括搜寻月球上水冰在内的多项探测工作。
嫦娥七号航天器原定于近日从中国南部海南岛的文昌航天发射场发射升空。
中国载人航天工程办公室在一份简短声明中表示，该任务未达到发射条件，“无法在今年计划的发射窗口内实施”。
该机构补充称，这项决定是在“综合评估”后作出的，遵循“谨慎、可靠、确保任务绝对成功”的原则。声明未进一步说明推迟决定背后的具体原因。
过去几周，文昌发射场已为嫦娥七号任务开展了准备工作。作为嫦娥探月工程的第七项任务，据官方新华社此前报道，该任务旨在实现关键技术突破。
新华社援引该航天机构的消息称，此次任务计划探测月球上永久阴影的陨石坑，并对月球南极开展环境与资源勘测。
嫦娥是中国神话中的月亮女神。2024年，嫦娥六号探测器携带着月球背面的岩土样本返回地球，这在全球尚属首次。
当前中国正与美国展开竞争，目标是实现宇航员登月并在月球表面实现近乎永久的存在。今年6月，美国国家航空航天局（NASA）局长贾里德·艾萨克曼表示，美国正与中国“全面展开太空竞赛”，两国均计划在未来数年将宇航员——或就中国而言是“太空人”——送上月球。
今年4月，NASA阿尔忒弥斯二号任务的机组人员成为半个多世纪以来首批绕月飞行的人类。他们将因此次破纪录的10天飞行任务被授予国会太空荣誉勋章。
凯亚·哈伯德对本文亦有贡献。
China postpones Chang’e-7 moon launch as mission fails to meet launch conditions, officials say
August 23, 2026 11:05 AM EDT / CBS/AP
China said on Sunday it was postponing its planned ambitious Chang’e-7 lunar mission, which was set to carry out explorations including searching for water ice on the moon.
The Chang’e-7 spacecraft was originally set to lift off in the coming days from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on China’s southern Hainan Island.
The mission does not meet the launch conditions, said the China Manned Space Agency in a brief statement, and “cannot take place during the planned window this year.”
The decision was made following a “comprehensive assessment,” the agency added, and was based on the principles of “prudence, reliability and absolute mission success.” It did not further elaborate on the reasons behind the decision.
Preparations have been carried out at the Wenchang launch site for the Chang’e-7 mission over the past weeks, the seventh in the Chang’e moon exploration program. It aimed at making breakthroughs in key technologies, the official Xinhua news agency previously reported.
It was set to explore permanently shadowed craters on the moon and conduct environmental and resource surveys of the lunar south pole, the Xinhua report said, citing the space agency.
Chang’e refers to a Chinese moon goddess. The Chang’e-6 probe returned to Earth in 2024 with rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon in a world first.
China’s mission was planned as the country vies with the United States to land astronauts on the moon and secure a near-permanent presence on its surface. In June, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the U.S. was “very much in a space race” against China, with both nations aiming to send astronauts — or, in China’s case, “taikonauts” — to the moon in the next few years.
In April, the crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission became the first humans to travel around the moon in more than half a century. They are set to receive the Congressional Space Medal of Honor for the record-breaking 10-day flight.
and Kaia Hubbard contributed to this report.
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