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

The rival superpowers are ramping up preparations for a crewed lunar landing nearly six decades after the first moon walk

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he world watched earlier this month as Nasa sent four astronauts around the moon – but to actually land on the surface the US is once again in a space race, this time with China. And China may well win.

Both countries plan to build inhabited lunar bases – the first settlement on another celestial body – as well as searching for rare resources and using the deep space environment to test technology for future crewed missions to Mars.

The well-funded China National Space Administration (CNSA) is pitted against the US’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa).