The New Space Race: Artemis, China and Private Stations

The first space race was about flags. The new one is about staying: bases near the lunar south pole, where water ice may exist, and stations in orbit run as businesses. The players are NASA and its partners, China, and a growing group of private companies. In 2026 the race became visible again, and the timelines finally have hardware behind them.

Artemis: back around the Moon

On 1 April 2026, NASA's Space Launch System sent Orion and four astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada's Jeremy Hansen, on a ten-day flight around the Moon. It was the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972, and the crew travelled farther from Earth than any humans before them, passing Apollo 13's record. Orion splashed down off San Diego on 10 April.

NASA has since reshaped the next steps. Artemis III, in mid-2027, becomes a test in Earth orbit: Orion will dock with both commercial landers, SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon. Artemis IV and V target crewed landings in 2028, after uncrewed demonstration landings by each lander.

China: steady and on schedule

• Tiangong, China's space station, has hosted rotating three-person crews since its completion in 2022.
• In November 2025, suspected debris damage to Shenzhou-20 sent its crew home in the Shenzhou-21 capsule, and China launched an uncrewed replacement, Shenzhou-22, eleven days later.
• Shenzhou-23, launched on 24 May 2026, carried the first astronaut from Hong Kong; one crew member is expected to stay about a year.
• Chang'e-7, a robotic mission to the lunar south pole, was pushed to 2027 after an August 2026 launch was called off.
• The national goal: Chinese astronauts on the Moon no later than 2030.

Getting there was the old race. Staying there is the new one.

After the ISS: private stations

The International Space Station is planned to retire around 2030, and NASA wants to buy time on commercial stations rather than own one. Vast says its single-module Haven-1 will launch in early 2027; Axiom Space, the Orbital Reef team led by Blue Origin and Sierra Space, and Starlab are developing larger designs. For investors and executives, this is where the space economy starts to look like real estate in orbit.

How to read the race

• Watch hardware, not announcements: landers, docking tests and refuelling.
• Watch cadence: China has flown its crewed program steadily for years.
• Watch budgets: NASA's plan depends on commercial partners delivering on time.
• Watch the south pole: whoever lands there first sets the reference for decades.