NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman warned that China could beat the United States back to the lunar surface, arguing that control of strategically important areas near the moon’s south pole could influence technology, international partnerships and future space exploration for decades.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman warned Tuesday that the United States faces a genuine risk of losing the new race to the moon as China advances toward a crewed lunar landing before 2030 and seeks a permanent foothold near the strategically important lunar south pole.
Speaking at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Isaacman told Air Force and Space Force personnel that NASA is accelerating its lunar program because China’s progress has transformed returning Americans to the moon from a long-term exploration objective into an increasingly urgent strategic competition. The conference agenda identified Isaacman’s appearance as “Today’s Space Race: to the Moon.”
“You are witnessing a very energized NASA, and we will need to be, as we are in the midst of a very real second space race,” Isaacman said. “China will accomplish what the Soviets never could.”
China has publicly set a goal of landing astronauts on the moon before 2030. Its planned mission would use two Long March 10 launches — one carrying the Mengzhou crew spacecraft and another carrying the Lanyue lunar lander. The two spacecraft would rendezvous in lunar orbit before astronauts transfer to the lander for their descent.
NASA, meanwhile, is targeting its first Artemis lunar landing for early 2028. Artemis IV is currently planned to carry astronauts aboard Orion before transferring them to a commercially developed lunar lander for the trip to the surface.
Isaacman emphasized that China’s schedule should not be dismissed as aspirational.
“History has shown they could even be early, and we could easily be late,” he said.
“Success in this endeavor will be measured in months, not years.”
China has already completed major tests involving components intended for its crewed lunar program, including work on the Long March 10 rocket, Mengzhou spacecraft and Lanyue lander. A February demonstration tested a Long March 10-derived reusable booster and Mengzhou escape system, while Chinese officials have continued construction of launch, communications and landing-support infrastructure needed for a crewed mission.
Isaacman said China’s architecture also has a numerical advantage in launch complexity for an initial landing. China’s current plan calls for two major launches, while NASA’s Artemis architecture requires several launches involving the Space Launch System, Orion and commercial lunar-lander elements.
The NASA administrator said the competition is particularly consequential around the lunar south pole, where permanently shadowed regions may contain water ice and where locations with favorable sunlight could support power generation and sustained operations.
China and Russia plan to cooperate on the International Lunar Research Station, with China targeting a basic facility in the 2030s. Plans under discussion include nuclear power for the lunar base. China’s Chang’e-7 and Chang’e-8 robotic missions are intended to investigate the south pole and help prepare for that longer-term presence.
“[China] too seeks to build a moon base alongside the Russians and put a nuclear reactor right in one of the limited parking spots on the lunar south pole,” Isaacman said Tuesday. “Success in this endeavor will be measured in months, not years.”
NASA and the Department of Energy are pursuing their own lunar nuclear-power program, with the agencies seeking to develop a fission surface power system for deployment on the moon by 2030.
Isaacman argued that the consequences of the competition extend far beyond which country plants the next flag.
“Our allies and adversaries are watching,” he said. “So is every nation deciding whose technology to buy, whose standards to adopt, whose security relationships to deepen, and whose vision of the future to follow, and, perhaps most importantly, our children will be watching, and the hopes and dreams of a generation inspired by these kinds of Apollo 11-like moments [are] really on the line.”
The United States retains a major advantage in its commercial space sector, Isaacman said, particularly in reusable launch vehicles and heavy-lift capabilities developed outside the traditional government procurement system.
The Trump administration’s current National Space Policy explicitly directs NASA to return Americans to the moon by 2028, begin establishing a permanent lunar outpost by 2030 and make greater use of commercial and reusable space systems.
NASA has consequently begun restructuring Artemis.
The agency announced earlier this year that it would standardize the Space Launch System configuration, add another mission in 2027 and increase the frequency of subsequent flights. NASA also plans to make greater use of commercially procured reusable hardware after Artemis V, with an initial goal of eventually supporting lunar landings about every six months.
The agency has also shifted emphasis away from placing Gateway, its planned lunar-orbiting station, at the center of the near-term architecture and toward building infrastructure directly on the lunar surface.
Isaacman said NASA’s previous approach suffered from long gaps between launches, changing priorities and insufficient concentration on achieving a sustained presence.
“I’m thankful for the reality that the Chinese have a plan to potentially, you know, to likely deny that critical area on the lunar south pole because it’s given us the latitude to fix what is broken, to stop all the external impositions, the self-inflicted wounds that we had in our strategy, and bring extreme focus and mission,” he said.
NASA’s updated plans call for robotic missions to begin traveling to the lunar south pole at a much faster pace, with Isaacman saying Tuesday that uncrewed landers should begin operating on a near-monthly cadence in 2027.
Those missions would test power systems, autonomous and crewed mobility, navigation, communications and technology required for future habitation.
NASA’s March overhaul also established a phased strategy for building a permanent moon base rather than treating each Artemis landing as an isolated expedition.
The administration has described the lunar surface as both a destination and a testing ground for Mars, where astronauts can develop habitats, life-support systems, spacesuits, surface transportation and resource-utilization technology while remaining only days from Earth.
Isaacman said the south pole would serve as that proving ground.
“This will be our proving ground for where we master the skills, for where we go next, which is Mars,” he said.
The competitive framing marks a change from periods when NASA’s lunar timelines repeatedly slipped or when returning astronauts to the moon was not a consistent national objective.
China, by contrast, has maintained a long-running sequence of robotic lunar missions. Chang’e-5 returned lunar samples to Earth, Chang’e-6 became the first mission to bring samples back from the moon’s far side, and Chang’e-7 is targeting the south polar region.
That record is one reason Isaacman said NASA cannot assume China’s 2030 deadline will slip.
His remarks also reflect the Trump administration’s broader treatment of space as an economic and national-security domain rather than solely a scientific arena. The administration’s policy directs federal agencies to maintain U.S. leadership from low-Earth orbit through cislunar space while expanding commercial launch capacity and lunar logistics.
Isaacman credited that direction with allowing NASA to concentrate more heavily on the moon.
“Fortunately, we have a president who understands that great nations remain great by continuously undertaking and achieving the kind of big, bold endeavors that define American exceptionalism,” he said. “These are no longer just stories in history books. This is what you’ve been waiting for, and this is our time.”
“This is the golden age. We are going back. We are going back to stay, to build the base. We are doing it together to show the world once again what America is capable of achieving and inspire the next generation to pick up the fire of exploration and carry it farther than we ever could.”
NASA’s current timetable leaves little margin for further major delays.
China says it intends to put its astronauts on the moon before 2030. The United States is aiming for its first new crewed landing in early 2028 and the initial elements of a permanent lunar outpost by 2030.
For Isaacman, that narrowing gap is what makes the possibility of losing the second moon race no longer theoretical.
The contest, he told the military audience Tuesday, will increasingly be decided not by decades-long plans but by which country can execute its lunar architecture first — potentially by a matter of months.
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