Who will win the new space race?

NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft's main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew travels towards the Moon, on April 2, 2026. Credit: NASA/Handout via REUTERS.

Just two days after NASA unveiled plans for a permanent base near the Moon’s south pole, Blue Origin – one of the private companies hired to be part of the project – suffered a spectacular setback. On May 28, the Jeff Bezos-owned company’s test rocket exploded in Florida, badly damaging its launchpad, which could take years to repair. No one was injured, but the failure brought the company’s lofty ambitions and plans for the first-ever privately funded lunar landing mission crashing down to Earth. Read More.