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4d ago

NASA Chief Rejects Moon-Race Doubts, Vows U.S. Will Land Before China

The pledge follows a Senate hearing that questioned Artemis’s Starship-dependent plan and budget stability as China moves toward a 2030 crewed landing.

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NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy meets with senior agency officials at NASA Headquarters July 18.
© NASA
NASA's Artemis 1 lifts off from launch pad 39-B at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., carrying the Orion spacecraft on a mission to orbit the moon, early Wednesday, November 16, 2022. The Orion capsule is scheduled to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on December 11 after 25 days in space. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Overview

  • At a Sept. 3 Senate Commerce Committee hearing, former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said it is highly unlikely the U.S. will beat China to the lunar surface, citing Artemis’s complex reliance on in‑orbit refueling and an unproven human‑rated lander.
  • Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy publicly pushed back, telling employees the agency will beat China to the Moon and elevating Amit Kshatriya to oversee Moon‑to‑Mars efforts as NASA’s top civil servant.
  • Witnesses warned that proposed White House cuts and the cancellation of Gateway would erode U.S. leadership and strain international partnerships, even as Congress moved to preserve elements of Artemis.
  • Lawmakers have added $4.1 billion to purchase two SLS vehicles for Artemis 4 and 5 and provisionally restored Gateway funding at $750 million per year through 2028.
  • China has conducted a lunar lander test, a crew capsule abort test, and a Long March 10 static fire toward its stated goal of a human landing before 2030, intensifying concerns about U.S. schedule risk with Starship refueling still to be demonstrated.