Former NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, in a memoir due out in January 2027, argues that the United States is losing ground to China in a high-stakes competition for space. Nelson, who led the agency from 2021 to 2025, writes that Beijing's strategy is to dominate the “high ground of the twenty-first century” and that China's lunar program is militarized and secretive. He points to the 2023 Chinese spy balloon incident as a warning that the next great rivalry will extend beyond Earth's atmosphere.
Nelson's account focuses on the Moon as the flashpoint. He says China is planning “infrastructure for lunar permanence” and seeking to occupy the limited resource-rich areas at the lunar South Pole. “They are not sprinting against us to plant another flag; they are settling in for a marathon,” he writes. Nelson is blunt about the current state of play: “America is not the obvious favorite.”
Current NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who took office in 2025, has made a similar case. Speaking at a space conference last week, Isaacman said NASA is reevaluating partnerships because China is heading to the same locations with Russian help and could deny access to key lunar sites. He cited a 2028 target for the Artemis IV landing and argued the agency must move fast. Nelson, despite disagreeing with the Trump administration on many issues, shares Isaacman's sense of urgency.
This article is based on a single source, an Ars Technica report on Nelson's memoir and Isaacman's recent remarks. The source presents both men's views as aligned on the need for speed, while noting Nelson's broader distrust of China and his support for restrictions on NASA-China cooperation. No dissenting perspectives are included in the source.