China National Space Administration
- China's new teaser for its lunar base appeared to show a NASA Space Shuttle taking off.
- It's a peculiar detail in the clip, because China and the US don't work with each other in space.
- The Space Shuttle was later blurred out in a state media version of the CGI video.
A new concept video showcasing China's planned lunar base appeared to feature a NASA Space Shuttle lifting off from the facility — a detail that was then omitted in a later broadcast of the clip.
Released by the China National Space Administration on April 26, the video contained a CGI rendering of Beijing's vision for its International Lunar Research Station in 2045.
The rendering shows an astronaut waving a Chinese flag over a research campus on the moon, while a spacecraft shaped like a Space Shuttle takes off in the background with a signature orange rocket booster.
American rocket boosters were orange because of a foam used uniquely by NASA to insulate fuel tanks during the Space Shuttle era of 1981 to 2011, during which the administration ran 135 missions.
Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The apparent Space Shuttle's appearance in China's video is peculiar. The US prohibits NASA from working with China in space, and Beijing has long touted its new space station and ambitions for a lunar base as independent and China-led.
Meanwhile, the US and NASA have been signaling an urgent need to establish their own base on the moon before China, marking a race between both nations to put their astronauts on the lunar surface.
It's unclear if showing a Space Shuttle was intended by China's space administration, but the spacecraft using a Chinese base in 2045 would be nearly impossible.
That's because the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011, with NASA now focusing on its new Orion Spacecraft with a heavy-lift rocket system for its trips to the moon. The administration typically relies on Elon Musk's SpaceX to transport astronauts to the International Space Station.
The apparent video gaffe was noticed on China's side. In the same video posted by state broadcaster CGTN the day after, the Space Shuttle was blurred out — a censorship tool often deployed in China on short deadlines.
China's State Council Information Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider.
Beijing says it plans for its international lunar base to be built jointly by other countries as a collaborative effort. In the lead-up to that endeavor, CNSA launched a robotic probe to the moon on Friday in the world's first attempt to retrieve samples from the moon's far side.
However, the US has warned amid tense Sino-American relations that Beijing's track record with controlling resources on Earth means NASA shouldn't allow it to establish a base on the moon first.
NASA's spending on its Artemis project, its effort to put US astronauts on the moon a second time, is expected to reach around $93 billion by 2025.
It's asked the US government for $7.6 billion for the Artemis campaign budget in 2025, or just over a quarter of its total administration budget request of $25.3 billion.
The first Artemis crewed mission is expected to land on the moon in late 2025, though this deadline was originally meant to be November 2024.