"For the last month, NASA's interim administrator, Sean Duffy, has been giving interviews and speeches around the world, offering a singular message: "We are going to beat the Chinese to the Moon." This is certainly what the president who appointed Duffy to the NASA post wants to hear. Unfortunately, there is a very good chance that Duffy's sentiment is false."
"Privately, many people within the space industry, and even at NASA, acknowledge that the US space agency appears to be holding a losing hand. Recently, some influential voices, such as former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, have spoken out. 'Unless something changes, it is highly unlikely the United States will beat China's projected timeline to the Moon's surface,' Bridenstine said in early September."
"As the debate about NASA potentially losing the "second" space race to China heats up in Washington, DC, everyone is pointing fingers. But no one is really offering answers for how to beat China's ambitions to land taikonauts on the Moon as early as the year 2029. So I will. The purpose of this article is to articulate how NASA ended up falling behind China, and more importantly, how the Western world could realistically retake the lead."
Sean Duffy publicly declared that the United States will beat China to the Moon, while many inside the space industry privately believe NASA is falling behind. Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine warned that, unless something changes, the United States is unlikely to beat China's projected lunar timeline. Washington debates blame without presenting concrete strategies to counter China's ambitions to land taikonauts by 2029. The piece traces policy failures back to 2003, citing the Columbia loss and the end of the shuttle era as inflection points that prompted soul-searching at NASA and in Washington about future direction. Space policymakers must learn from past mistakes and outline actionable reforms to regain lunar leadership.
Read at Ars Technica
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