The US wants to send astronauts to the Moon again, but they are not alone.
At BILD, NASA boss Bill Nelson (79) warned: “There’s a new race to space – this time with China”.
The first NASA astronauts are due to visit the Moon in 2025 – the first time a woman.
But Beijing’s plans go further: China is planning its own moon base in collaboration with Russia!
It should end in 2035. If it works, Taikonauts – as China’s astronauts are called – could conduct experiments on the Moon from 2036.
NASA boss Nelson isn’t comfortable with this: “We have to be very worried that China will land on the moon and say, ‘It’s ours and you stay out’.”
The Moon’s south pole in particular is hot: water is suspected to be stored there that could be used to produce rocket fuel in the future.
Meaning: Anyone who wields the south side of the Moon has a significant base in space. And possibly force.
In any case, Bill Nelson is certain: “China’s space program is a military space program.” He himself was an astronaut in space before going into politics.
As a politician who relies on an otherwise soft tone, Nelson is very outspoken. He criticizes the technology theft that made it possible for China to participate in the space race: “China is good. But China is also good because it steals ideas and technology from others.”
What military objectives could China pursue in space?
Nelson raged the BILD question: “Well, what do you think is happening on the Chinese space station? They learn there how to destroy other people’s satellites.”
In fact, China has been researching technologies for years to “catch” satellites with robotic arms or nets and crash them: supposedly to clean up its own space debris, but in fact Foreign satellites can also be attacked in this way.
Last man on the Moon: Astronaut Gene Cernan completes his lunar mission on December 14, 1972Photo: DPA
This is what NASA is planning on the moon
As with the Artemis program, NASA plans to return to the Moon in close collaboration with the European Space Agency Esa.
This summer, the first Orion space capsule is to fly to and orbit the Moon. Orion, made in half Germany, will be unmanned.
NASA astronauts will be present in the second orbit of the Moon in 2023.
A third flight in 2025 should bring two people to the moon: a woman, a black astronaut.
Further plans: construction of a gateway station in lunar orbit, a village, a launch pad to Mars.
