NASA has banned Chinese citizens with valid US visas from working on its space programs at its facilities. File Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher/UPI | License Photo
NASA has banned Chinese citizens with valid U.S. visas from working on its space programs at its facilities.
NASA said that Chinese nationals would be barred from using its “facilities, materials and networks to ensure the security of our work,” after Chinese workers contributing to research were locked out of their IT systems and prevented from attending in-person meetings on Sept. 5.
A NASA press secretary, Bethany Stevens, confirmed that NASA had taken “internal action pertaining to Chinese nationals — including restricting physical and cybersecurity access to our facilities.”
Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said the United States and China are currently engaged in “a second space race.”
“The Chinese want to get back to the moon before us. That’s not going to happen,” he said.
“We’re in a second space race right now,” NASAs acting administrator Sean Duffy said.
Lawmakers stressed the need for the United States to put its footsteps on the moon before China, during a Senate hearing last week.
“China has made no secret of its goals,” said Republican senator Ted Cruz. “If our adversaries achieve dominant space capabilities, it would pose a profound risk to America the stakes could not be higher.”
By 2027 the United States is planning to land astronauts as part of its Artemis program on the moon.
China has said it’s on track to put a person on the moon by 2030.
In recent weeks, both countries have proposed a mission to set up a nuclear power plant on the moon by mid-2030.
“The first country to do so could potentially declare a ‘keep-out’ zone which would significantly inhibit the United States from establishing a planned Artemis presence if not there first,” Duffy said.
“We will get to the moon under President Trump’s term. Our mission is Artemis. We will win the second space race. China wants to beat us there, but we won’t let them.”
