Artemis II lunar flyby success raises the stakes in US-China space race
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Now that Artemis II has completed its lunar flight and returned to Earth, Artemis is no longer a concept or a promise. It is a working American deep space architecture.
In a single mission, the Artemis II crew performed manual piloting and proximity operations while the Orion spacecraft operated at lunar distance and demonstrated life support, propulsion, power, thermal, navigation and re-entry systems, creating operational data that NASA says will shape subsequent missions.
As we celebrate this success, it is useful to remember how this mission began — and why is it important?
ARTEMIS II NEARS THE END OF HISTORIC MISSION WITH A JUMP UP OFF THE CALIFORNIA COAST
Early in his first term, Donald Trump saw something no president since Richard Nixon has seen clearly enough: The return to the moon is not a relic of the glory days of the last century. This is the strategic high point of this place.
The victory of Artemis II began with the signing of Space Policy Directive-1 on December 11, 2017. It led NASA out of two quandaries.
The first was the Obama-era asteroid track, in which NASA planned to take a rock from a near-Earth asteroid, place it in lunar orbit, and send astronauts there as a stepping stone to Mars. This was the kind of stupid business only Washington could love; expensive, complex, and completely lacking the geopolitical clarity of a return to the moon.
Artemis II proved that deep space systems work, but the real strategic competition with China is just beginning.
The second was America’s long pattern of remaining in low Earth orbit. Of course, years of useful work had been done on the International Space Station, but there was no serious strategy for advancing into deep space and regaining leadership beyond it.
In the Trump doctrine, the moon is not just a destination. It is the national power’s next major platform, a logistics hub, a science outpost, a testing ground for the deep space industry and a potential source of water ice for drinking water, oxygen and rocket fuel.
It is also where space manufacturing, energy production, navigation, extraction and transportation technologies will be tested and developed, and where military advantage, industrial capacity, technological leadership and geopolitical influence will come together.
In this image provided by NASA, Artemis II crew members (left to right), Victor Glover Jeremy Hansen, Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch, stop to turn the camera for a selfie midway through a Moon observing period during a lunar flyby on Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This is exactly why Communist China clearly aims to make a manned landing on the Moon by 2030 and to establish an International Lunar Research Station together with Russia by 2035. This is a position contest. The nation that gets there first will shape more than just headlines. It will shape the future balance of power.
The genius of Artemis is that this isn’t just a government effort. This is a public-private partnership designed to leverage exactly what America does best: entrepreneurial innovation, private sector speed, and allied collaboration.
ASTRONAUT TOLD CNN THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DESERVES CREDIT FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE ‘HOLE’ ARTEMIS MISSION
NASA provides the anchor mission and strategic architecture. The broader design relies on commercial firms and friendly nations, with SpaceX and Blue Origin at the center of the landing architecture.
Artemis II teaches us something important about the nature of deep space exploration. People still matter.
In the first space race, Apollo showed the world that America could outpace its authoritarian rival, outthink and outlast. It has also accelerated key technologies such as microelectronics, computing, materials science, telecommunications, precision manufacturing, and propulsion and guidance systems, strengthening our defense industrial base and renewing confidence in the country’s capacity to build and win.
In this second competition, Artemis teaches us something important about the nature of deep space exploration. People still matter.
ARTEMIS II SENT ASTRONAUTS AROUND THE MOON IN THE FIRST DEEP SPACE MISSION SINCE APOLLO
NASA did not send four travelers around the moon. He sent trained observers (our lunar scientists’ eyes on Earth). During the flight on the far side, the crew photographed and described impact craters, ancient lava flows, fissures and ridges, and subtle differences in color, brightness and texture that help scientists read the moon’s geological history.
Artemis II also proved something bigger than engineering. This reminded the world that America can still do hard things in public. Fox’s own coverage featured the mission’s defining images: the Earth sinking, the power outage on the far side, and Trump’s call hailing the crew as “modern-day pioneers.”
Artemis is not just about exploration. It is strategic theatre, alliance management and rule-making in real time. In this sense, he is Trumpian.
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The mission also underscored a harsher truth: Serious space programs are built on mastery of the modest. Coverage lingered in the dimming behind the moon. But the Moon’s permanent survival will depend less on spectacle and more on whether America can master housekeeping, stowage, cabin atmosphere, suit operations, radiation protection, emergency procedures, sensitive communications, reentry and rescue.
The Artemis II crew captured this image of an Earthset while flying around the moon on Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)
The great powers do not stay on the Moon by taking pictures. They stay there, taking care of the plumbing, procedures, and return home.
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What’s next? Accumulate data, combine flight lessons and act quickly. Fly Artemis III in 2027 as an Earth orbit systems test for commercial landers and new moon suits. Then use Artemis IV in 2028 to send the Americans back to the lunar surface. From now on, keep a real pace; do at least one surface mission every year and eventually get faster if the architecture holds and reusable commodity hardware matures as planned.
What Washington needs to provide is speed, money and determination. Because if America treats Artemis like just another program to manage, we might live to see the red moon rise.
Peter Navarro with Greg AutryRising Red Moon“
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