China and the United States are answering this in contrasting methods. Their solutions may reveal the worth they place on human life.
From the Apollo Lunar Module in the Sixties to Nasa’s new Orion spacecraft for the Artemis programme, the American structure depends on a single, highly effective essential engine to do the heavy lifting.
On the descent stage, one essential engine controls your entire fall from lunar orbit to the floor. On the ascent stage, one essential engine is the one ticket residence.
If that one engine fails, there isn’t a backup. This design, to cite a peer-reviewed paper printed in the journal Chinese Space Science and Technology in March, “contains some glaring weaknesses”.