NASA Administrator Says US in ‘Space Race’ With China

'I don't want China to get to the south pole first with humans,' he said

The crew of Artemis II: NASA astronauts Christina Koch (L), Reid Wiseman (2nd L), Victor Glover (2nd R), and Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Jeremy Hansen (R) at Johnson Space Center in Houston on March 29, 2023. Josh Valcarcel/Courtesy of NASA

NASA Administrator Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) appeared with the crew of the Artemis II mission to the moon at Kennedy Space Center and gave insights into America’s space administration’s sentiments towards its latest rival in space exploration, communist China.

“We are in a space race with China,” the former astronaut confirmed at the Aug. 8 press conference. “I think the space race is really between the United States and China, and we need to protect the interest of the international community.”

That community comprises the 28 countries across six continents that have signed the Artemis Accords.

Signed on Oct. 13, 2020, the Artemis Accords is an international agreement intended to, as NASA described, “establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations participating in the agency’s 21st century lunar exploration plans.”

The key guiding principles prioritize peaceful exploration, transparency, and emergency assistance among participating nations. It also seeks to set standards for registering space objects, publically releasing scientific data, mining resources, and preserving historic landing sites.

“You see the actions of the Chinese [Communist Party] ... on Earth,” he said. “They go out and claim some international islands in the South China Sea, and then they claim them as theirs and build military runways. It’s called the Spratly Islands.

“I don’t want China to get to the south pole first with humans. Then say, ‘This is ours. Stay out.’ Like what they’ve done with the Spratly Islands.”

One of the primary goals of NASA’s Artemis program is to establish a permanent presence on the Moon’s south pole, where, the administrator said, frozen water is likely to exist.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaks at an Artemis I mission status briefing on Nov. 28, 2022. NASA TV/screenshot via NTD

“If indeed we find water and abundance there that could be utilized for future crews and spacecraft,” he said. “We want to make sure that that’s available to all—not just the one that’s claiming it.”

Mr. Nelson also emphasized that the south pole was a lot different than where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed, which was spread out over a relatively flat area around the moon’s equator, constantly in the sun with only a few scattered craters.

On the contrary, the south pole, he explained, is covered with craters. And due to its angle to the sun, many of those craters are in perpetual darkness. This topography, he said, decreases the amount of land for spacefarers to land on and utilize.

China has continued to flex its muscles in regard to space in recent years. It has successfully sent unmanned craft to the lunar surface, which brought soil samples back to Earth, and it operates its own space station in low Earth orbit, Tiangong.

Students watch a lesson by Chinese astronauts from China’s Tiangong space station, at a school in Danzhai in China’s Southwestern Guizhou Province as the regime’s patriotism education on Dec. 9, 2021. STR/AFP via Getty Images

As China steps up as the new adversary of American space interests, Mr. Nelson said the old one does not pose as much of a threat.

Unlike China, Russia has had an extensive space history.

“We’ve had a cooperative relationship with Russia ever since 1975 and Apollo-Soyuz,” he said, referencing the first time Americans and Russians joined in Earth orbit. “We built the Space Station together. We operate it together.

“I don’t think that a lot of people at this point would say that Russia is actually ready to land cosmonauts on the Moon in the timeframe that we’re talking about.”

Mr. Nelson added that the Russians had just launched an unmanned probe to the lunar south pole and wished them well in their mission.

Neither NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy nor Jim Free, NASA Associate Administrator, Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, added further comment to Mr. Nelson’s China space race statements. The four Artemis II crew members also remained silent on the matter.

This photo posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Aug. 8, 2023, shows astronauts  Jeremy Hansen (L), Reid Wiseman (2nd L), Victor Glover (2nd R) and Christina Koch (R). The Canadian Press/AP-NASA via AP

But while Mr. Nelson sees the space race with China from an international perspective, some of his fellow astronauts see it from a more nationalistic standpoint.

“There is another Cold War running with China,” Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt said to The Epoch Times at the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington.

“And China is not letting up. They’re gonna try to dominate space as [they’re] trying to dominate activities here on Earth. And so space, once again, is at the forefront.”

“The federal government has to recognize that there is a basic national interest in being active and actually dominant in space.”

“I’m very nationalistic,” said Apollo 16 Astronaut Charlie Duke. “I want America to win.”

Artemis II is scheduled to lift off on a 10-day mission around the Moon in November 2024.

Joseph Lord contributed to this story.