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NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman faces an uphill battle getting U.S. boots back on lunar soil.
China’s space agency recently announced that it plans to land astronauts on the moon “before 2030.” Chinese officials have made similar statements before, but this time they offered a faster and more detailed timeline for the missions they say will lead to a lunar walkabout.
The U.S.’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been making on-again-off-again plans to return to the moon since 2004. After taking over as NASA administrator in December 2025, Jared Isaacman began shaking up the agency and streamlining its Artemis lunar program. NASA’s massive Space Launch System rocket successfully propelled the Orion capsule and its four crew members on a trip around the moon in April. NASA says it plans to put U.S. boots on the lunar surface in 2028. Is China, a newcomer in manned spaceflight, really going to get its astronauts to the moon before the venerable U.S. space program can pull off a return visit?
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James B. Meigs is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.