MOSCOW, Aug 9 NASA creates a myth about a new lunar race and the threat from China to justify the huge budget expenditures for the resumption of manned flights to the Moon, says Russian cosmonautics expert Andrey Ionin .
Earlier, the head of the American space agency, Bill Nelson, said that Russia cannot land astronauts on the moon in the time frame that the United States and China are capable of, which means that only Washington and Beijing are participating in the new space race.
«I believe, firstly, that there is no lunar race. This is a myth created specifically in the United States to justify government spending because they are colossal,» Ionin said.
He called the NASA chief's statement «absolutely political.» «There is no need to look for any technological overtones, this is just a direct consequence of American strategic documents, which says who is the main enemy, competitor of the United States for the coming decades — this is China,» the expert explained.
According to him, the United States most often declares the threat of China, Russia or any other country in order to justify the budget. «People need money. The China Threat is working as efficiently as possible, and manned programs are the most expensive, so you have to say so,» Ionin added.
Earlier, astronomer Vladimir Surdin, in an interview with expressed a different opinion. He believes that the new space race has really begun because of the desire of a number of countries, including Russia, to catch up with China in the study of the Earth's natural satellite. He also noted that on the far side of the Moon it is possible to explore the Universe without radio interference, and water has been found at its South Pole, which in the future can be used for astronauts, equipment and rocket fuel.
NASA compares the Artemis program in its significance with the Apollo missions, which culminated in the landing of astronauts on the moon in 1969. Artemis-1 should be a preparation for the resumption of manned flights, the first of which — Artemis-2 — is scheduled for 2024. The return of the crew to the Moon is planned for 2025 as part of the Artemis-3 mission.
In August, Roskosmos plans to launch the first domestic lunar station, Luna-25, in almost 50 years. It should be the first station in history to land on the South Pole of the Moon (near parallel 70 degrees south latitude).