The new space race: Russia launches first mission to moon in almost 50 years

the last time this happened Russia was the Soviet Union and Leonid Brezhnev was in the Kremlin 1976 nearly half a century as Moscow sent a rocket to the moon but they and many others are seeking a new first for this the Luna 25 to land on the Moon South Pole something no nation has done before and potentially find water I hope that we will be the first and if of course water is found a very serious prospect that is building a lunar base welcome to the new space race where geopolitics becomes astropolitics and this current set of Galactic games is a lot different to the last one time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement which in many ways May hold the key to our future on Earth that Cold War battle was about proving who was on top the Russians had just got Yuri Gagarin into space first [Applause] but then Neil Armstrong made it onto the moon foreign it was all Macho rocket swinging one upmanship but they all went and came back now they all want to stay this time the idea is that again it's not just going back to the moon but it's can we build a base on the moon can we do long-term science experiments on the moon can we pave a way that eventually we'll be able to get humans from the earth to the moon and eventually to Mars Russia isn't alone in this China became only the Third Country to land a spacecraft on the moon in 2013. India's chandrian III mission took off last month and is hoping to land on the Moon by late August but the Americans are still the only ones to have had boots on the lunar ground NASA's Artemis project hopes to do that again by the end of 2025. but who will get to the all-important Luna South Pole first the place where scientists believe there's water in those permanently shadowed craters there is believed to be frozen water in the form of ice and when we're thinking about kind of long-term habitation on the moon it's going to be incredibly useful to have some of these resources that we know humans need to survive The Far Side of the Moon is extremely rugged and that could even include minerals and sources of energy but with countries fighting to get there first are there any laws governing all of this the Americans want countries to sign the Artemis Accords a set of space principles but China and Russia haven't agreed leading NASA's head to warn that Beijing might occupy the moon China rejects that our space force is defending our country and it was Washington after rule who set up the U.S space force a new Galactic fighting unit we will imagine the unimaginable yes it is secure cooperation in space is still possible for the greater good as we see even today with the International Space Station cosmonauts and astronauts working together but with Russia about to pull out and planning a rival lunar base alongside China could the divisions on Earth soon replicate themselves in the skies and stars above

Channel: Channel 4 News

Views: 79,318

Keywords: russia, putin, vladimir, vladimir putin, space, the moon, moon, lunar mission, russia space, china, base, space race, soviet union, moon landing, channel 4 news, india space, russia in space

Id: GVE3GNsEQts

Length: 3min 23sec (203 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 11 2023