Humans have not set foot on the moon since NASA's final Apollo mission in 1972. Now both the US and China are planning new lunar missions. China has mentioned the prospect of a lunar mission by 2030 but never confirmed it in an official capacity, The New York Times reported. An official confirmed the plans at a news conference for an upcoming flight transporting astronauts to China's space station. China has beefed up its space program in recent years, completing a space station late last year and subsequently sending astronauts to it. The country has plans to establish a research station on the moon.
The developments mean that competition and tensions between the US and China have expanded beyond Earth's atmosphere. In an interview with Politico in January, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson warned that Beijing could try to claim the most resource-rich locations on the moon or keep the US from operating there. "It is a fact: we're in a space race," Nelson said. A 2022 Pentagon report warned that China could surpass the US' capabilities in space in the long term. The US is eyeing a lunar return by 2025 as part of its Artemis program, which will send the first woman and the first astronaut of color to the moon.
