intended<\/a> to launch Artemis II in 2023. Then technical issues repeatedly postponed the mission: hydrogen leaks, failures in helium flow, unexpected erosion of the heat shield. Beset by delays and pivot fatigue, NASA has downgraded its next Artemis flight from a manned lunar landing to an Earth-orbit docking test in 2027. It now seems that U.S. astronauts won\u2019t walk on the moon until 2028 at the earliest.<\/p>\nMeanwhile, China grinds away. In February its space agency conducted a successful in-flight abort test from Hainan. Early in the ascent, mission controllers deliberately triggered an escape system that pulled an unmanned Mengzhou capsule away from the rocket. The capsule parachuted safely to sea while the rocket continued its flight. After re-entry the booster reignited its engines and performed a controlled, propulsive splashdown. NASA\u2019s moon rocket can\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n
Beijing also leads in landing technology. Last year it demonstrated the Lanyue manned lander, which performed both a propulsive lunar landing and a lunar launch in simulated moon gravity. The test validated the craft\u2019s design, shutdown procedures and interface compatibility between subsystems. Suddenly, China\u2019s stated mission to put people on the moon before 2030 seems less like bluster.<\/p>\n
\u201cNature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished,\u201d Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wrote. China isn\u2019t ready for a translunar journey, but its space program is making patient and consistent progress. Though Beijing has experienced its share of failures, its lunar program is achieving serious leaps in the technologies that matter.<\/p>\n
China has built the robotic infrastructure\u2014sensors, hoppers and relay satellites\u2014needed for a permanent lunar base. Later this year, China\u2019s Chang\u2019e-7 mission is expected to explore the lunar south pole, where NASA intends to touch down. Included in China\u2019s mission package is a novel rocket-propelled scout that can reach terrain inaccessible to rovers. Its task: hunt for ice water.<\/p>\n
Missions such as Chang\u2019e-7 should spur action in Washington. If the U.S. is to maintain leadership in the race to the moon, it must take China\u2019s progress more seriously. It must also resist the temptation to rest on its laurels.<\/p>\n
Whichever nation lands on the moon first in this century can do far more than plant a flag. It will choose where to build infrastructure. It will decide where to mine regolith and extract the ice water that, separated into hydrogen and oxygen, becomes rocket fuel for everything that comes next.<\/p>\n
To stay ahead, Washington must stop optimizing for spectacle and start building for permanence. Artemis has proved that the U.S. can still reach the moon. The question now is whether it can remain there. That will require a shift in priorities\u2014from timelines to cargo capacity, from singular missions to sustained infrastructure. Power systems, communications relays and resource extraction should take priority over manned missions.<\/p>\n
Washington also needs strategic coherence. China\u2019s advantage is as much organizational as technical. The U.S. should establish a unified lunar strategy with clear timelines, accountable leadership and authority that extends across agencies. Otherwise delays will compound, and opportunities will slip away.<\/p>\n
Finally, the U.S. government needs to sell the lunar project to the American people more effectively. Artemis missions won\u2019t matter if voters think the moon is yesterday\u2019s achievement. This isn\u2019t a replay of 1969. It\u2019s a contest over governance, access to critical resources, and the ability to establish infrastructure that will determine economic and military activity in space for generations. Washington must make the case in terms the public appreciates: power, prosperity and security.<\/p>\n
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman sounded the alarm during his confirmation hearing last year: \u201cThis is not the time for delay, but for action, because if we fall behind, if we make a mistake, we may never catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the success of Artemis, there\u2019s a risk that his fears are already being realized.<\/p>\n
Mr. Buono is an assistant professor of humanities at the University of Florida\u2019s Hamilton School and the author of \u201cThe Province of All Mankind: How Outer Space Became American Foreign Policy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artemis II ventured farther into space than any manned craft had gone before. Human eyes saw the far…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[270],"tags":[127958,381,18,19,17,63947,16033,1024,133,451],"class_list":["post-461218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-artemis-ii","tag-china","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lunar-race","tag-moon-landing","tag-nasa","tag-science","tag-space"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116493151015611179","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/im-86290410_1777515537585_1777515554515.jpg\" "\\"A")
A Chinese Long March-2F carrier rocket lifts off.<\/p>\n