The 10th test of the SpaceX Starship has been launched and by all accounts was wildly successful in meeting its objectives. What do the results tell us about the likelihood that NASA and its commercial and international partners will beat China back to the Moon?

A recent article by Eric Berger in Ars Technica sent shockwaves through space policy circles. After taking note of several successful tests of Chinese lunar hardware, including a prototype of a crewed moon lander, plus some of the previous setbacks suffered by the SpaceX Starship, Berger has come to a sobering conclusion.

“So it's now probable that China will ‘beat’ NASA back to the Moon this decade and win at least the initial heat of this new space race.”

The conclusion is enough to ruin one’s entire decade.

Berger may be throwing in the towel too soon, but he does provide a much-needed wake up call. Sometime in the near future we might all be gathered around our television screens and watching the first people to walk on the moon since December 1972 speaking Mandarin.

The Human Landing System version of Starship is one of the two tall tent poles of the Artemis program to take........

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