Former NASA chief sounds alarm on China's lunar "exploration" plans

The former NASA administrator, Charles F. Bolden Jr., warned that China's lunar exploration plans are a threat to US dominance in space. He stated that China's goal is to establish a permanent presence on the Moon and eventually dominate the high ground of the 21st century. This ambition was outlined in a 2020 white paper, where China outlined its plans to build a lunar research station and eventually establish a permanent human settlement on the Moon. The Chinese space program has made significant strides in recent years, including landing a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon in 2019 and conducting a series of lunar missions. The US, on the other hand, has not sent astronauts to the Moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972.