The Real Reason NASA Could Win The Space Race This Month

This month NASA is aiming to launch Griffin Mission One, Astrobotic's lander for the Moon Base Two mission, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center. Its target is the Nobile region near Mons Mouton, close to the lunar south pole - the same small patch of ice and sunlight that China wants too. Artemis II flew four astronauts around the Moon, but the first American landing has moved to Artemis IV in 2028. China's Long March 10, Mengzhou and Lanyue are aiming for a crewed landing before 2030. Chang'e-7 missed its August launch window and Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 1 slipped after New Glenn exploded on the pad. That leaves one small lander with a chance to take the first parking spot at the south pole - if its legs survive the landing. In this video: where the US-China Moon race really stands, why the lunar south pole matters, what Griffin and the FLIP rover carry, and why so many landers have failed in the last few meters. Which country do you think lands near the south pole first? Tell me in the comments. 🔭 Subscribe to Space Theory Archive for a new space story every week. ▶ Watch next: https://youtu.be/1jbh8GFXT6g Footage: NASA, Astrobotic and other Creative Commons creators: The Artemis program: exploring the Moon, Jiffry Uthumalebbe, Void Aerospace, Free Stock Footage, Project TMRO, NightSkyNet, Free HD videos - no copyright, Fluffmachine, Paul M. Sutter, Ph.D., Rotation Speed Video, No Copyright Zone, AV SPACE WORLD, Royalty Free Content, Joseph Shenouda, Josh Valcarcel, AstroTim Universe, US National Archives, KnowledgeOrb, Volksord, NASA/John Kraus, YourSurface Gamer, A Better Question, Mati Sob, Outer Space Prints, Mars Chroniken, Ismatulloh Salaf, Rocket Rundown, Giants on Film, The Space Archive, U.S. Navy, Chun, OpenSource, NASA Headquarters / NASA/Tiffany Coutris, Shujianyang, Goddchen, lover, NASA Reloaded, JAYKAY PHOTOGRAPHY, Mind Meld, NASA Headquarters, NASA Science, Relaxing Ambient Soundscapes, spaceth, Green Shirts, Screen New Green, Stock Videos-Copyright Free, Angela Brett, Astrobotic, NASA Glenn Research Center / NASA/GRC/ Bridget Caswell, NASA/JPL-Caltech, Canal 104 Plus, Awesome Joe, Space Startup News, Space Chronos, Mars Guy, Humanoid History (Humanoid History), NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, SciNews, The Curator, The Vintage Space, Now Stream - News, Politics, Tech, AllThingsEngineering, Rocketry Roundup, NASA, Erhan E. Gucel, Neil Armstrong, NASA Kennedy Space Center / NASA/Isaac Watson, APOD Podcast, テレストレラッソ, Preservation Maryland, Timelapse, Space MindsX, Tech World, freemusic, Maxx Tunez, Free To Use, Bhaijaan Stock Video, Universe Out There, jasonrivet, Onestop Video Library, NASA Headquarters / NASA/Joel Kowsky, Stock Footage 4K, LROC (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) and ShadowCam teams with images provided by NASA/KARI/ASU, NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc./David Ladd, USRA/Ernie Wright, KBR Wyle Services, LLC/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez, Liam Yanulis, KBR Wyle Services, LLC/LK Ward, ADNET Systems, Inc./Laurence Schuler, ADNET Systems, Inc./Ian Jones, Kevin Gill, Beyond Earth, 99 questions about, Yiannis Belias, Quiet Parallax. Music: "Clean Soul" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ #nasa #artemis #moonlanding