On Wednesday, the head of the US space agency NASA, Bill Nelson, said that China is bolstering its space capabilities and using its civilian program to mask military objectives, warning that Washington must stay vigilant. 

Chief Nelson made these remarks during his testimony on NASA's 2025 budget before the House Appropriations Committee.

Nelson told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that China has made extraordinary strides, especially in the last ten years, but they are very secretive. 

Nelson claims NASA believes most of China's so-called civilian space program is military and thinks that the US and China are, in fact, in a race. 

He added that they have not seen China demonstrate that. However, he hoped Beijing would "come to its senses and understand that civilian space is for peaceful uses."

Furthermore, he said the US should land on the moon again before China, as both countries are pursuing lunar missions, and voiced concern that Beijing may respond with, "Okay, this is our territory, you stay out," if they arrive first.

Note that this isn't the first time Nelson has declared that China and the US are "in a space race" and warned that China might eventually claim to "own" the moon's resource-rich area. 

China's space program launched multiple lunar orbiting and sample-retrieval missions to establish an Earth-orbiting space station in 2022.

Since then, the US has been planning the Artemis III mission, which will return astronauts to the moon in 2026. China claims that it wants to send people to the moon by 2030. 

Nelson believes the US should maintain its "global edge" in space exploration.

"But you got to be realistic," he said. "China has really thrown a lot of money at it, and they've got a lot of room in their budget to grow." However, he warned that the US better not let its guard down.