Opinion

CHAD WOLF: Space isn’t just the final frontier, it’s the ‘ultimate high ground’

President's space superiority executive order takes on new urgency as Chinese develop reusable rockets and target lunar resources

By Chad Wolf Fox News

Published February 23, 2026 7:00am EST

Facebook Twitter Threads Flipboard Comments Print Email Add Fox News on Google

close

Video

SpaceX Crew-12 docking at International Space Station

Fox News correspondent Alexis McAdams reports on SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts docking at the International Space Station on ‘Fox Report.’

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The race to the moon is on — again. But the strategic competition playing out today is much bigger than our race with the Soviet Union in 1969. If China reaches the moon ahead of the United States and establishes a permanent, manned presence — it will not treat the lunar surface as a peaceful scientific outpost, but as an extension of its campaign to surpass America, intimidate our allies and compromise our systems that keep the American homeland secure. This is no longer something of science fiction.

President Donald Trump understands this threat, signing the Executive Order on Ensuring American Space Superiority, which made it abundantly clear that he wants the United States to lead this new space race — returning Americans back to the moon by 2028 and building a permanent manned presence on the lunar surface.

Let me be clear, the fear that China could somehow "claim" the moon by arriving first misunderstands both geography and international reality. Two of the main locations for settlement are the Shackleton Crater, which stretches about the distance from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland, and the South........

© Fox News