The United States announces its return to the Moon, vowing to beat China during Trump's term

Acting NASA Administrator and Transportation Secretary Davis publicly stated that they will win the "second space race," and in a congressional hearing warned that if the Artemis program is hindered, it could "hand over the Moon to China."

A recent video released by NASA's acting administrator, Davis, officially announced that the United States will return to the Moon before the end of President Trump's term and vowed to win the "second space race" with China.

According to Fox News, Davis said in the video, "We are going back to the Moon, and this time we won't leave after planting the flag. I promise to accomplish this goal before the end of President Trump's term." He also said, "China wants to get there first, but we will land first. We will win the second space race."

The report pointed out that Davis is the first NASA administrator to explicitly acknowledge a space competition with China.

As China accelerates its space layout, the U.S. Congress held a hearing this week to discuss how to cooperate with NASA to prevent China from winning the space race. Senator Cruz, chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, warned that if the Artemis program stalls, the U.S. could "hand over the Moon to China."

"Artemis" is the largest manned mission since the Apollo program, and is expected to send astronauts back to the Moon as early as 2027.

Cruz said, "The U.S. is in a space race in the 21st century, and China does not abide by the rules. They are pouring resources into it, trying to dominate space." He called on Congress to ensure NASA gets sufficient funding and maintains its leadership in the Earth-Moon system, Mars exploration, and deep space missions.

Experts who attended the hearing, including former NASA Administrator Bridenstine and former Deputy Commander of the U.S. Space Command Shao, generally expressed concerns about the possibility of the U.S. falling behind China.

Bridenstine said bluntly, "Unless there is a breakthrough, the U.S. is likely to fail to beat China in the lunar landing schedule." He pointed out that although the U.S. has the Artemis program and the SLS rocket, the real lunar landing system still depends on SpaceX's Starship, which still needs to overcome technical challenges such as in-orbit refueling and unmanned lunar landing tests.

Bridenstine said that if the U.S. fails to maintain stable low-Earth orbit operations and space leadership, it could be marginalized.

China recently used the "Shijian 21" and "Shijian 25" satellites to perform historic in-orbit refueling and large-scale orbital maneuvering in geostationary orbit (GEO), causing concern in the U.S. Shao said that the two satellites carried out a "largest in history" orbital change, consuming fuel equivalent to six years, indicating a high level of technological maturity and the capability for long-term space operations and control.

Shao stated at the hearing that "China is pushing a comprehensive strategy to fully control the Earth-Moon system." He criticized NASA's policy direction, which frequently changes with government transitions, harming long-term development.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1842481319264538/

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