Overview
- At a House Science space subcommittee hearing, members from both parties said the United States has entered a consequential competition with China in space and warned that leadership is at risk.
- Witnesses detailed Beijing’s long-term strategy, recent far-side lunar sampling, a continuous crewed space-station presence, and expanding counterspace capabilities enabled by military‑civil fusion.
- Several experts were pessimistic that NASA can return astronauts to the Moon before China or quickly establish a sustained presence that sets future operational norms.
- Former NASA administrator Mike Griffin argued Artemis is unlikely to succeed as designed because both Human Landing System providers depend on in‑space cryogenic refueling that has never been demonstrated.
- Lawmakers heard that a proposed FY2026 cancellation of Mars Sample Return could cede a Mars milestone to China, which plans a sample‑return mission in 2028.