--- title: "China Slams NASA Leadership After Its Moon Launch Failure" description: "China wasted no time criticizing NASA — and its administrator, Bill Nelson — after the US space agency's uber-expensive moon rocket failed to launch." date: "2022-08-30" modified: "2022-08-30" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/china-slams-nasa-head" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Moon" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "bill nelson" - "china" - "china space program" - "NASA" - "the digest" --- # China Slams NASA Leadership After Its Moon Launch Failure ![China wasted no time criticizing NASA — and its administrator, Bill Nelson — after the US space agency's uber-expensive moon rocket failed to launch.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Glass Houses China wasted no time criticizing NASA — and its administrator, Bill Nelson — after the US space agency's [uber-expensive and massively overdue Moon rocket]() failed to launch. In the [state-run, English-language *Global Times* English-language news website](), the country's dominant communist party slammed Nelson, who in turn had criticized China in [an *NBC News* interview]() broadcast just a day before the first Space Launch Systems (SLS) rocket [test was scrubbed]() due to a reported engine issue. "\[The Chinese\] have gotten a lot of the technology from everybody else, and as a result, they're very good," Nelson said, echoing his claim in May that China's space program is "[good at stealing]()" from the US and other countries. Though he hasn't elaborated much on the claim, there is some evidence to back him up, given that in 2019, a years-long undercover Homeland Security mission [caught a Chinese national]() allegedly trying to steal sensitive missile and spacecraft components out of the US. The *Global Times* reported that a senior Chinese aerospace expert, who the news outlet said spoke on condition of anonymity, called the NASA administrator's remarks inflammatory, malicious, and ill-intentioned. "Since the dawn of the age of human exploration of space, no country has ever claimed some of the resources of outer space," the expert purportedly told the *Global Times*, "especially when there's regulation from UN framework convention on cooperation in outer space." ## History of Violence This is far from the first time Nelson and China have sparred. In early July, the NASA administrator accused China of trying to "steal the Moon" [in an interview with Germany's *Bild* newspaper](). Unsurprisingly, Chinese space representatives hit back. "The US side has constantly constructed a smear campaign against China's normal and reasonable outer space endeavors, and China firmly opposes such irresponsible remarks," Zhao Lijian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, [said during a press conference]() after Nelson's comments were printed. Nelson's [disdain for China]() is well-documented, and the feeling is clearly mutual. Perhaps next time he wants to blast the United States' space race rival, however, he'll have the story printed at a less awkward time. **More on the US and China:** *[Free Speech Warrior Elon Musk Writes Column for Chinese State Censor's Magazine]()* **More on the SLS:** [*How NASA Got Price Gouged on the SLS, According to Its Former Second-in-Command*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()