US will beat China in race to the Moon, says NASA Administrator Bill Nelson

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the US will beat China in the race to the Moon. Admitting that the two countries are in a space race, Nelson said, "There are very, very few nations that do not want to be partners with us. China is one. China has always been very secretive", in an interview with Japan's Nikkei.

He explained China's secretiveness by underscoring its unwillingness to share trajectory data about the falling rocket debris that pose a serious threat to populated areas on the ground. Earlier, Nelson had accused China of plotting to 'hijack' the Moon as part of its military programme. 

NASA, meanwhile, is currently monitoring its uncrewed Artemis 1 mission which is on its final day on December 11 and will pioneer future crewed missions to the Moon if it turns out to be successful. 

"If our program is successful, and our commercial lander is successful, I think we will be able to get there somewhere in 2025, maybe 2026," the NASA head said.

So far, China has had immense success with its lunar missions as it has managed to land a rover on the far side of the Moon and has even fetched soil samples from the Moon. While Nelson sees China as competition, he said that Japan is considered one of US’ most important partners. NASA has even signed an agreement with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to launch and land a Japanese astronaut on the Moon. 

Cooperation with Russia aboard ISS 'very professional'

The NASA chief said that the American space agency’s cooperation with Russia in outer space has remained ‘very professional’ despite the Ukraine crisis. Nelson was referring to NASA and Russian space agency Roscosmos’ collaboration aboard the International Space Station (ISS) which is jointly managed by Europe, Canada and Japan, apart from US and Russia. 

The war in Ukraine "changed everything on the ground”, said Nelson. “It's certainly solidified Europe against Russia. But it's not going to change the cooperation on the International Space Station. That cooperation continues. It is very professional”, he added. Notably, there are seven astronauts currently living aboard the space station, of which three are Russian, one from Japan, and three from the US. 

Recently, former Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin threatened to end its participation aboard the ISS due to the war in Ukraine. The same was concurred by new agency chief Yuri Borisov, who said Moscow would pull out from the orbital outpost in 2024. However, Roscosmos later agreed to stay till 2028.