Like a rocket: Starship and the US-China Moon race

The remarkable recent test flight of SpaceX’s Starship brought the world one step closer to a host of new possibilities beyond Earth (not least the colonisation of Mars). But as well as reducing the cost of sending stuff into space and opening up new business opportunities in Earth orbit, Starship will also play an important role in NASA’s plans to return to the Moon. Meanwhile, China has its own lunar ambitions, and a much simpler plan than America’s. Who will win this new space race?

Host: Alok Jha, The Economist’s science and technology editor. Contributors: Kari Bingen of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies; The Economist’s Tim Cross, Oliver Morton and Paddy Stephens.

For more on this topic, listen to our podcasts on who owns the Moon, the new space economy, and the lunar South Pole.

Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.

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