China Delays Chang'e-7 Lunar Mission

Chinese space authorities said only that the mission did not “meet the launch requirements” and, by Monday evening, the rocket had been rolled back to its assembly building.

Space security strategist John Sheldon, a co-founder of the London-based consultancy AstroAnalytica, said space professionals in the US would certainly not be celebrating the delay.

“The same variables that caused the Chang’e-7 postponement can just as easily happen – and have happened – to US lunar missions.”

However, politically it could ease some pressure on Nasa, Sheldon said. A later Chang’e-7 launch pushed back the prospect of another successful Chinese moon landing, avoiding – for now – some of the “media and political angst” that could generate in Washington.