The tortoise and the hare: will China beat the US in the race back to the moon?

The Guardian reports that the US and China are locked in a new space race to achieve crewed lunar landings, with China potentially positioned to win despite NASA's Apollo heritage. The US plans a 2028 landing while China targets 2030, though both timelines face uncertainty; the article details both nations' hardware (SpaceX and Blue Origin landers for NASA, China's Mengzhou capsule and Lanyue lander), funding models, and institutional advantages—China's one-party continuity versus NASA's vulnerability to four-year political cycles and reduced budget share. The reporting is sourced with named experts (Scott Manley on rocket engineering, Xie Gengxin representing China's space program, Pierre-Yves Meslin on European collaboration), specific technical details (Chang'e-6's far-side sample retrieval in 2024, Long March-10 rocket specifications), and historical context (Apollo program comparison, 2011 US-China collaboration ban). Independent search results from Space.com and Fast Company corroborate the competitive framing and cite NASA chief Jared Isaacman's statements about power competition, while a Ted Cruz quote signals domestic political pressure on NASA funding—context the Guardian article references indirectly. Critical readers should monitor 2026 Blue Origin and SpaceX test flights, Chang'e-7's late 2026 south pole mission, and whether NASA's 2028 timeline holds or slips, as the article notes "difference between winning and losing will be measured in months not years."