CONTROL OF THE MOON A STRATEGIC CHALLENGE BETWEEN

THE UNITED STATES AND CHINA

This is what NASA administrator and former astronaut Bill Nelson told German newspaper Bild in an interview published on Saturday.

The head of the US space agency has indeed declared that China's space program is a military program. He added that China had stolen some ideas and technologies.

But this Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry clearly responded to Bill Nelson. “This is not the first time a NASA chief has made irresponsible remarks against China.

When it comes to our space program, which is completely normal and reasonable, our country is constantly the victim of smear campaigns. Even though we have always called for the construction of a community of nations in space and we have always firmly opposed its militarization. »

China is defending itself against accusations by NASA administrator Bill Nelson. It is absolutely not in his plans to "take control" of the Moon.

But over the past decade the pace of China's space program has picked up with a program that focuses on the moon. China has in fact never hidden its intention to embark on the conquest of space, quite the contrary. Since the 1990s, it has been developing an independent space program, on the fringes of international cooperation. It must be said that China was excluded from the ISS because the United States forbids NASA any collaboration with Beijing. A reason that pushed her to build her own station.

After a first unmanned landing in 2013, China was the first to land a rover on the far side of the Moon. And she hopes to send astronauts to our natural satellite before the end of the decade. It also plans uncrewed missions to the moon's south pole by 2025.

The President of China Xi Jinping is also the biggest promoter of this program which he baptized “Space Dream”. A dream that is becoming reality. On April 29, the central module Tianhe "Heavenly Harmony" of the future Chinese space station was successfully launched from the base of Wenchang, located on the island province of Hainan. A decisive step in the creation of the future Chinese space station Tiangong “Heavenly Palace”. A base that will consist of three parts, including the central Tianhe module, will be the management and control center. Two other 14.4m long modules, Wentian "Heavenly Quest" and Mengtian "Heavenly Dream", will be attached to Tianhe.

This is enough to worry NASA, as part of its Artemis program, which plans to send a crewed mission into orbit around the Moon in 2024 and to make a crewed landing near the lunar south pole in 2025....