The Beijing-Moscow collaboration presents the US with challenges in space not faced before.
The United States will have to up its space exploration game, it seems. As Space X and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) move methodically toward a manned moon landing, Russia and China plan an extravagant lunar presence of their own. Russia is building a nuclear facility to power its science and research community stationed on the moon. Such announcements do not suggest that the US is behind in the race to colonize our celestial satellite, but it should motivate NASA and Space X to move up their timetable for manned landings. Another concern that should get US space program officials’ attention is the historic hegemonic aspirations of Beijing that could extend to claiming large areas of the lunar surface for its military purposes.
Russia’s attempt last…