Last Monday, China denounced NASA's claims it is planning to take over the moon as part of its military space program. The allegations came from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. He stated Saturday that the US is now involved in a space race with China. He told a German newspaper, “We must be very concerned that China is landing on the moon and saying: 'It's ours now and you stay out'. China is not taking the allegations lightly.
Zhao Lijian is a spokesman at the Chinese foreign ministry, said in a statement: “This is not the first time that the head of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration has ignored the facts and spoken irresponsibly about China. “The US side has constantly constructed a smear campaign against China's normal and reasonable outer space endeavors, and China firmly opposes such irresponsible remarks.” Nelson added that Chinese astronauts are being trained to destroy other country's satellites and the nation “has stolen ideas and technology from others” in order to make its claim on the moon. Zhao said China had always advocated the peaceful use of outer space and opposed its weaponization.
Zhao said, “The development of China's space industry has been achieved entirely through independence and self-reliance, and its rights and achievements cannot be questioned or discredited in any way.” He added that China has always promoted the building of a shared future for humanity in outer space and opposed its weaponization and any arms race in space.
NASA seems to be threatened by China's move into the space race, as the nation is the most recent space agency to venture to the moon. China recovered samples from the moon in December 2020, the first nation to do so since the Soviet Luna 24 probe in 1976. NASA's last mission to the Moon was on December 17, 1972. China has yet put astronauts on the lunar surface. NASA has landed 12 men on the moon.
The American space agency now plans on landing people on the Moon in 2025. China is considering 2030 for sending its first astronauts to the Moon. The two space-faring nations are not just battling over the moon but are also competing for Mars.
In June 2021, China announced it plans to send its first manned mission to Mars in 2033. The goal is the construction of a base and extraction of resources from the Red Planet. This plan was outlined in a new presentation made by Wang Xiaojun. He is the head of China Academy of Launch Facilities Technology.
The ambitious Chinese plan will intensify a race with the US to put humans on Mars, with NASA aiming for some time during the 2030s. Wang's Mars roadmap consists of three stages for colonizing the Red Planet. The first stage will use robots to find possible sites for the base on Mars and build systems to source resources. NASA is using its Artemis mission to send the first Americans to Mars, also by 2033. It will be a race between the US and China to see which one lands humans on Mars first.