“And it is true that we better watch out that they don’t get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research. And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, ‘Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory," Nelson said, as quoted by Politico.
“If you doubt that, look at what they did with the Spratly Islands," former Florida senator and astronaut said reminding about the Chinese military establishing bases on contested islands - the South China Sea.
Nelson’s comments come after NASA’s 26-day Artemis I mission. In the mission, an uncrewed Orion space capsule flew around the moon. The mission was regarded as widely successful and was the first big step toward NASA’s plan to land astronauts on the lunar surface to begin building a more permanent human presence.
In December, China’s government laid out its vision for more ambitious endeavors such as building infrastructure in space and creating a space governance system.
Three Chinese astronauts landed on earth last month onboard the re-entry capsule of the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft, state broadcaster CCTV reported, ending a six-month mission on China's space station.
The station represents a significant milestone in China's three-decade crewed space programme, first approved in 1992. It also flags the start of permanent Chinese habitation in space.
Following this, the head of the U.S. Space Command notified that China is building capabilities that put most U.S. space assets at risk.
"They continue to build and build capabilities that really, quite frankly, hold most of our assets at risk in the space domain. It really is an advancement if you will in their capabilities," U.S. Army General James H. Dickinson, commander of U.S. Space Command said, referring to China.
"Their understanding (is) that space is a very important piece to not only their economic or the global economic environment but also the military environment. We continue to watch that very closely as they continue to increase capabilities."
