In late 1957, the US Navy's Vanguard rocket was primed to launch the world's first artificial satellite. But, on the morning of Oct. 4, the Soviet Union struck first and lobbed a small metal ball into orbit that Moscow Radio called Sputnik ("Fellow Traveler"). That "Sputnik Moment" had a profound impact on the nascent Space Age, significantly escalating the race between the United States and the Soviet Union, prompting soul searching in the U.S., and spurring a national effort to promote science and math education. America ultimately won the race to the moon, and the benefits changed the nation and the world. The question that confronts us today is: Can the United States prevail again?
Sixty-seven years after Sputnik, space is the great strategic frontier. Yet the U.S. faces growing competition from countries like China and Russia, both of which are targeting Western space assets with economy- and defense-crippling weapons. At the same time, the space economy is exploding as technological advances in reusability, avionics, and artificial intelligence increasingly put lunar resources within reach. Finally, there is geopolitics — the renewed lunar push, initiated under President Trump, is still seen as a geopolitical statement and a symbol of national prestige. The outcome of this lunar competition will have major ramifications today and well into the future.
