China hiding military presence in space: NASA Administrator Bill Nelson

The head of NASA said he hoped “China’s space program can get back on track.”

Washington:

China is using civilian projects to hide military targets in space, the NASA chief told lawmakers in Washington.

“China has made extraordinary progress [in space] Especially in the last 10 years, but they were very, very secretive,” Bill Nelson told the U.S. House Appropriations Committee during testimony on NASA’s 2025 budget request.

“We believe that a lot of their so-called civilian space programs are military programs. I think, in effect, we are in a race.”

Nelson also stressed that it was “our responsibility” to be the first to land on the moon, warning: “My concern is if China gets to the moon first and then suddenly says ‘well, this is our territory, you don’t come in’.”

The NASA chief said that the United States will not lose its “global advantage” in space, “but you have to be realistic, China does invest a lot of money in this, and they have a lot of room in their budget.” growing up. “

“I think it’s best that we don’t let our guard down,” Nelson added.

The NASA chief said he hoped “China’s space program will wake up and understand that civilian space is for peaceful purposes” but added: “We have not seen China demonstrate that.”

NASA hopes to send humans to the moon again after more than 50 years through the Artemis program. The Artemis 3 lunar mission was recently postponed to September 2026.

Artemis’ long-term goal is to establish a permanent lunar base as the basis for missions to Mars.

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