China’s Mission to the Moon, and the New Politics of Space Exploration

Between the presidential election, spikes in the coronavirus pandemic, and the beginning of mass vaccination, you might have missed this other world-historical event: China landed on the moon. On this episode, Watson’s Director Ed Steinfeld talks about China’s lunar mission with Watson Faculty Fellow Jim Head. Jim is a Professor of Geological Sciences at Brown, and a leading expert on interplanetary exploration. They discuss the science and politics of China’s growing space program, and what it means for human space exploration in the 21st century. They also look at why this next generation of space travel will be nothing like the Cold War ‘space race,’ and a little bit about where exactly Elon Musk fits in, too. You can learn more about Watson’s other podcasts here.