Foreign Policy > China

Who Will Win The New Space Race, China Or America?

This intense space race for geopolitical influence, resource extraction, and the establishment of standards for future exploration is not about proving what is possible but about securing a foothold. 

Janet Levy | June 23, 2026

During Operation Epic Fury, Iran used Chinese space assets and satellite imagery to track and target American military bases and operations in the Middle East. The Financial Times reported that Iran had secretly purchased a satellite from Earth Eye and ground-based signal-processing services from Emposat, both Chinese companies. Together, these purchases gave Iran an advantage it was not previously known to possess.

Naturally, Beijing denies allowing the use of commercial space systems for military purposes. But these developments raise a serious concern: given the ambitious pace of China’s space program, it may soon be able to wage war from space.

Consider China’s space goals:

A long-term lunar presence with a permanent base in cislunar space (the orbital region between Earth and the Moon);

A return mission to Mars, following its successful 2021 robotic mission;

Launches to Jupiter (2029), Uranus (2040), and Saturn, as well as to near-Earth asteroids and comets;

Space tourism is already being offered over the next five years, with seats priced at $210,000 in 2027;

A lunar mission with three astronauts by 2030;

And by 2035, an ambitious International Lunar Research Station, a multinational scientific research base on the Moon.

China is determined to become the world’s preeminent space power by 2045, surpassing America’s capabilities in near- and low-Earth orbits, on the lunar surface, and in deep space. It also plans to establish a dominant Earth-Moon economic zone. China has never hesitated to gain power by any means. Therefore, America faces an imminent battle to control the high frontier, from which any place and thing on Earth is easy to observe, attack, or destroy.

The U.S., of course, has had a head start in space since the Cold War era. It launched its first unmanned spacecraft in 1958, four months after the Soviet Union........

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