With the newly announced delays related to the Artemis lunar program, it is fair to ask whether the U.S. might fall behind the Chinese when it comes to a crewed lunar mission (of course, we won that battle 50 years ago, but you know that I mean).
All reports indicate that the Chinese wants to place humans on the Moon by 2030, but they are not expected to beat the Artemis timetable of a lunar landing in 2026. Of course, it is important that NASA stick to this timetable.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson recently stated:
I do not have a concern that China is going to land before us…I think that China has a very aggressive plan. I think they would like to land before us, because that might give them some PR coup. But the fact is that I don’t think they will. I think it is true that their date that they announced keeps getting earlier. But specifically, with us landing in September of ’26, that will be the first landing.
Obstacles remain on what will prove to be a difficult mission even if it is a repeat. We already saw Russia’s failed attempt to simply land on the Moon last year, and the problems with last week’s NASA-funded commercial launch towards the Moon was worrying.
Nothing can be taken for granted in this new space race.
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