On Wednesday, NASA administrator Bill Nelson testified before the House Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill regarding the agency’s budget for fiscal year 2025. The meeting placed considerable emphasis on the military presence of China in outer space.
‘China has made extraordinary strides, especially in the last 10 years, but they are very, very secretive,’ Nelsons stated. ‘We believe that a lot of their so-called civilian space program is a military program, and I think, in effect, we are in a race,’ he added.
Nelson expresses optimism regarding China’s possible transition of its space military into a peaceful framework but asserts that barely any progress in this direction has been observed from China.
Nelson stated that although both nations are pursuing Moon missions, the United States should re-establish contact with the Moon before China. However, if Beijing were to do so first, he would allow the US to say, ‘Okay, this is our region; you stay away.’
Nelson asserts that the US will never relinquish its global preeminence in space exploration; however, he emphasizes that the country should not relax its vigilance.
‘But you got to be realistic. China has thrown a lot of money at it and they’ve got a lot of room in their budget to grow,’ Nelson said.
The US intends to launch astronauts to the moon via the Artemis-3 mission in 2026. It is common knowledge that China intends to launch humans into space by 2030.
Source: Newsroom
