With dreams of a lunar outpost, China takes new risks in space race with U.S.

As a graduate student in Switzerland in the 1980s, Chinese aerospace scientist Ye Peijian paid a visit to the World Intellectual Property Organization, where a moon rock from the Apollo program was on display as a symbol of U.S. power in space.

- Brian Spegele

"Decades have gone by, but it's still there," Ye, who later played a leading role in China's space program, told Chinese state media recently. "Because no one has surpassed them."

Today, China is closer than ever. Its space officials brim with confidence as they signal a growing appetite for high-risk missions to more quickly close the gap with the U.S. in a new race to the moon, Mars, and beyond.

U.S. officials fear that China will employ tactics in space that it has used to advance territorial claims on Earth, including beating out the U.S. in building a crewed outpost on the moon and attempting to lay claim to its resources.

"It's not even an exaggeration to say China will be a global power in space by 2030," said Ye, who helped run China's first uncrewed mission to orbit the moon and has advised on several others.

China put its ambitions on display before dawn on Wednesday as it blasted three astronauts into orbit from a remote desert launch center.

The astronauts, two of them in their 30s, will spend roughly six months at China's space station. Some of their experiments will be intended to help prepare for China's most difficult mission yet: landing astronauts on the moon by 2030.

Wednesday's Shenzhou-19 mission, covered extensively in state media, sought to evoke pride in China's trajectory as many citizens struggle financially in a souring economy.

"I am very lucky to have been born into a great motherland," mission commander Cai Xuzhe said ahead of the launch.

The mission is another step in the rivalry with the U.S. as the nations employ different strategies in a bid for leadership over the future of space exploration.

The U.S. has provided a greater role to private companies for space missions, with mixed results.