Civilian space race 2.0 with China closer than US would like right now: NASA deputy chief Civilian space race 2.0 with China closer than US would like right now: NASA deputy chief ....SHOTLIST:....ANTALYA, TÜRK?YE (OCT. 5, 2026) (ANADOLU - ACCESS ALL)....1. VARIOUS OFVARIOUS OF CONGRESS AREA PEOPLE WALKING AROUND ....2. NASA DEPUTY CHIEF MATT ANDERSON ADDRESSING ANTALYA, TÜRK?YE - OCT. 5, 2026: The civilian race to the Moon between the US and China is tighter than Washington would like, NASA s deputy administrator said Monday, signaling that the space agency will soon make a major announcement..... We won the first space race in the 60s and early 70s, and right now the space race 2.0 ... the civilian space race ... is closer than we would like right now, Matt Anderson told Anadolu on the sidelines of the 77th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2026) in Türkiye s Mediterranean province of Antalya..... But we re going to be confident, and we have some exciting news to announce very soon, he said, without elaborating.....China has set a goal of putting astronauts on the lunar surface by 2030 and said the development of its Long March 10 heavy-lift rocket, Mengzhou crew spacecraft, and Lanyue lunar lander is on track.....NASA flew four astronauts around the Moon on its Artemis II mission in April. The agency later turned Artemis III into an Earth-orbit test flight planned for 2027 and now aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface with Artemis IV in 2028, for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.....Anderson, a retired US Air Force colonel, was sworn in as NASA s 16th deputy administrator in May.....- Peaceful exploration vs national security....Asked whether the new race is about prestige or science, Anderson said NASA s focus is the scientific exploration and discovery, adding that the Artemis era is very different from the Apollo program of the 1960s..... We re going to the lunar surface to stay, building a permanent presence in moon base to learn more about the surface, and ultimately what we call the third space race is pushing on to Mars and beyond, he said.....On concerns over an arms race in orbit, Anderson said: I do think the United States is leading in all three sectors of space right now. ....He drew a line between NASA s mission and the military s. We do separate NASA s peaceful exploration of space and then the national security side of space, which is the US Space Force and US Space Command, he said, adding that NASA likes to partner with other government agencies.....Last month, US Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the country has on-orbit space control weapons, the first time a US official publicly confirmed the existence of weapons in space. Russia and China responded by accusing Washington of launching an arms race in space.....The 1967 Outer Space Treaty bans placing nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in orbit but does not explicitly prohibit conventional arms.....- Space station s responsible end....Anderson said NASA is very proud of our almost 26 years of continuous presence in low Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station (ISS)..... When the time comes for the ISS s days to end, we have already contracted a company to have a very responsible manner of de-orbiting the ISS down to Earth, he said.....The ISS has been continuously crewed since November 2000. In 2024, NASA picked SpaceX to build a dedicated US Deorbit Vehicle under a contract worth up to $843 million, designed to guide the station to a controlled reentry over a remote ocean area once operations end, currently planned for 2030.....- Data centers in orbit, AI autonomy....On plans to place data centers in space, Anderson said the barrier to entry to get to space right now is still very high, citing launch costs..... But if the opportunity presents itself for either private industry or governments, and there s a way to make money and help things on Earth, I would welcome that, he said.....In Jan