Inside the High-Stakes Race Between the U.S. and China to Reach the Moon

When SpaceX’s Starship rocket launched from South Texas this week, a crowd of employees outside mission control broke into a patriotic chant: “U-S-A, U-S-A!”

The moment carried far more weight than a routine test flight. This was another step toward sending American astronauts back to the lunar surface for the first time in more than half a century. It also roused attentuib to the reality that the United States and China are locked in a modern space race, with NASA’s lunar ambitions depending almost entirely on one company: SpaceX.

NASA has chosen Starship as the lunar lander for Artemis III, a mission currently set for 2027. China has pledged to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030, and the race to plant the next flag is officially on.

“This really is a space race,” said Casey Dreier, chief of space policy for The Planetary Society, in an interview with NBC News. “The stated national priority of the United States is actually in the hands of a private company now, rather than the government.”