The article argues the United States is about to be jolted into recognising China's growing lunar ambitions, as China prepares to launch its Chang'e 7 mission targeting the Moon's south pole. The piece frames this as a pivotal moment in the broader US-China space rivalry, warning that if China lands humans on the Moon before NASA returns there, it would be seen as a major geopolitical and propaganda victory signalling China's rise as a rival superpower.

As soon as this Sunday, a Long March 5 rocket will launch Chang'e 7, China's most advanced lunar mission yet, carrying an orbiter, lander, rover and a hopper probe. It aims to land near Shackleton Crater, close to the lunar south pole, a region no spacecraft has ever reached despite over 100 Moon missions since the Soviet Union's Luna 1 in 1959. The area is prized for permanently shadowed "cold traps" believed to hold water ice, making it central to both NASA's and China's plans for long-term lunar settlement; the article notes that the US Congress has already begun responding by granting NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman scope to overhaul lunar programme plans, including scrapping the Lunar Gateway station.