Space race: the battle for the Moon

The duel for the natural satellite is the first step of a new space race that now pits the United States against China

Unverified translation

Infographic Cover Space Race — / Eduard Forroll Isanda

Sònia Sánchez, Eduard Forrolland Xin Ye

20/04/2026

1 min

Humanity returns to the Moon 50 years later. NASA's Artemis program, which made history this April by breaking the record for the furthest manned space voyage, responds to an openly declared objective by Donald Trump himself: “Get to the Moon before China”.

The Asian giant has been developing an ambitious space program since the beginning of the century, highlighting the Chang'e missions (named after the Chinese goddess of the Moon) to create a scientific station there and set foot on its surface by 2030. Now, the United States has set its sights on returning there in 2028.

Infografica Cursa Espacial Programes ARA

The duel for the Moon is the first step ofa new space race that now pits Washington against Beijing, instead of Moscow. Our natural satellite will be the base for going to Mars next and continuing to explore the Solar System. Who will win?

The Chang'e program to date

Chang’e 1 (2007)

First Chinese orbital probe to the Moon. Launched by a Long March rocket, the probe orbited the Moon for 16 months, until it crashed in 2009

Chang’e 2 (2010)

Second orbital probe. High-resolution mapping; it then traveled to Lagrange point L2 (between Earth and Sun) and flew over asteroid 4179 Toutatis (2012)

Chang’e 3 (2013)

First soft landing since 1976 and China's first lunar rover, Yutu, which holds the record for the longest operational period of a lunar rover (until 2016)

Chang’e 4 (2018-2019)

First landing on the far side of the Moon in history, with the Yutu-2 rover

Chang’e 5 (2020)

Return of lunar samples (the first since 1976), making China the third country to achieve this, after the USA and the USSR

Chang’e 6 (2024)

Return of the first samples from the far side of the Moon

The future of the Chang'e program

Chang’e 7 (~2026)

Probe and explorer robot to the lunar south pole to search for ice water and resources

Chang’e 8 (~2028)

Tests of in situ resource utilization (ISRU) technologies at the Moon's south pole and basic elements for creating a lunar scientific research station (ILRS)

Objective

First Chinese manned landing around 2030

The future of the Artemis program

Artemis III (2027)

Manned mission for testing docking with the lander module (in low Earth orbit)

Artemis IV (Early 2028)

First human landing since 1972

Artemis V (Late 2028)

New manned mission to the Moon, and from here on, landings every six months

Objective

Construction of a permanent lunar base in 3 phases:• Phase 1 (2026-27): Build, test, learn• Phase 2 (2028-29): Establish initial functional infrastructure• Phase 3 (2029-30): Enable long-term human presence