'The next step for humanity as a whole': China’s space race with the US heats up

NASA is ordering landers, rovers and drones for a sprawling moon base, less than two months after the Artemis II's record-breaking lunar flyaround.

The space agency outlined the first phase of its moon base plans on Tuesday, awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four US companies.

And the Americans are not alone.

On Sunday, the Chinese space agency launched Shenzhou-23 which will see an astronaut orbit the earth for a year.

Its ambitions include having their own manned presence on the moon by 2035.

For more, FRANCE 24’s Sharon Gaffney is joined by the 'Godmother of Space Law', Dr Michelle LD Hanlon, executive director of the Centre for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi.