NASA Admin Issues Warning About China

NASA Admin Issues Warning About China

(ConservativeHub.com) – The original Space Race began in the late 1950s when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik-1, a small satellite that flew around the Earth for over an hour and a half. The US established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to create its own space program, eventually landing a crew on the moon in the summer of 1969. While NASA sent a few crews after that event, the last human-crewed mission from the US was in December 1972, over fifty years ago. Now, one NASA chief is warning if we don’t go back soon, there may be major challenges ahead.

On January 1, POLITICO published excerpts from an interview it conducted with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, a former astronaut and Florida Senator. Nelson announced the US is “in a space race” with China, whom he believes is hoping to claim territory on the moon soon “under the guise of scientific research.”

The NASA Chief highlighted China’s aggression in the South China Sea, where its government claims to own a larger area than is internationally recognized, and how that could be similar to future claims the communist nation might make in outer space.

The US prepared for this new space race, though, as NASA launched Artemis I in November to gather more intel about the Earth’s surface. The space agency plans to put a crew on the moon by 2025 through the Artemis program as it focuses on Mars. The agency eventually hopes to send a crewed mission to the red planet.

These comments come as China successfully completed its permanent space station orbiting the Earth on November 29, 2022. The Chinese astronauts completed construction last year, and it’s completely run by China. This is unlike the International Space Station, a collaboration from over a dozen nations, including Russia.

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