America finds itself in Space Race 2.0 as humanity grows ever more dependent on the advanced technology in orbit and the lines between civil operations and national security are increasingly blurred. Threat Status at The Washington Times delivers in-depth and exclusive coverage as the great power competition for dominance accelerates across the 21st Century Frontier, with China, Russia and others challenging the United States as the world leader in the futuristic domain.
Japan’s experimental reusable rocket took off and safely landed in a first test flight Saturday as the country seeks to achieve the technology key to cut launch costs and compete in the global space market dominated by SpaceX.
China successfully recaptured the first stage of a rocket after a launch on Friday in a breakthrough for the country’s space program, state media said.
Sens. Bernard Sanders and the rest of the tax-the-rich crowd are on the warpath because SpaceX owner Elon Musk is apparently the world’s first trillionaire.
SpaceX will move forward with its $60 billion acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Cursor as Elon Musk’s space exploration and AI company seeks a competitive edge against rivals Anthropic and OpenAI after its Wall Street debut last week.
Iran is considering Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Starlink facilities across the Middle East as possible military targets as it aims to retaliate against President Trump’s newest threats, state-aligned Fars News Agency reported Thursday.
Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX will make its debut on Wall Street Friday and both institutional and retail investors are expected to gobble up the 555.6 million shares going up for sale at $135 apiece. Musk, already the world’s richest man, could become its first trillionaire.
Environmental groups on Wednesday sued attempting to stop the Trump administration from giving SpaceX more than 700 acres (280 hectares) of wildlife refuge in Texas, claiming it would worsen ecological risks to a Gulf Coast region already transformed by billionaire Elon Musk’s rocket operations.
NASA has announced the four-person crew for Artemis III, a test flight mission scheduled for 2027 that will conduct critical rendezvous and docking operations in Earth orbit ahead of Artemis IV, the first planned crewed mission to the lunar South Pole in 2028.
NASA on Tuesday revealed the crew for its Artemis III mission, the next step in the space agency’s plan to eventually land astronauts on the moon.
NASA on Friday temporarily ordered astronauts to take shelter during repairs to fix a fresh leak aboard the International Space Station.
After six months of radio silence, NASA’s Maven spacecraft at Mars has been declared dead.
An apparent hack targeted a key U.S. Space Force official’s Instagram account recently and reportedly posted pro-Iran and anti-American content.
A rocket belonging to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin exploded during a test at the launch pad Thursday night, shaking nearby homes and briefly painting the sky orange.
The Space Force must plan to deploy troops on orbiting space stations and at bases on the moon to prevent China from winning the new space race and controlling outer space, according to a report by an aerospace think tank.
SpaceX Starship launches are on hold pending an investigation into last week’s test flight.
NASA unveiled new Moon Base infrastructure plans Tuesday, announcing rover contracts, cargo lander missions and a fleet of survey drones as the agency works to establish a sustained lunar presence near the Moon’s South Pole ahead of future crewed Artemis landings.
China launched the Shenzhou 23 spacecraft Sunday night with three astronauts heading to its space station, including one set to stay in space for a year.
SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight Friday, an upgraded version that NASA is counting on to land astronauts on the moon.
As China and other adversaries rapidly expand their space capabilities, the United States cannot afford to fall behind.
Defense technology company Anduril Industries has received a $100.3 million boost to an existing government contract to improve the system the U.S. military uses to monitor objects in space.
The United States set a record for space launches in 2025, and with the Trump administration saying 2026 will be even bigger, concerns are swirling in U.S. national security circles over the extent to which the country’s launch facilities are overstretched.
A Chinese artificial intelligence company has been tracking U.S. military operations in the Middle East, threatening U.S. forces engaged in the conflict in Iran, according to congressional testimony made public Wednesday.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has weighed in on a 20-year-old space debate and said Pluto should be considered a planet again.
From the floor of the Navy League Sea Air Space Expo at National Harbor, Maryland, Guy Taylor, National Security Editor for The Washington Times, sits down with Adm. Daryl Caudle, the 34th Chief of Naval Operations and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Apr. 30, 2026)
The Golden Dome will employ advanced ground-based interceptors, space-based missiles, laser guns and cyberattacks to defend against threats to the U.S., according to officials.
California regulators apologized to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk this week as they settled a lawsuit that claimed a state agency showed political bias against the rocket company and its chief executive.
Space domain awareness. Non-Earth imaging. Orbital warfare. The language is new — but the mission is familiar: know where your enemy is, know what they can do, and be ready. John T. Seward speaks with Peter Krauss, CEO of Terran Orbital and Susanne Hake with Vantor, from the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, on the militarization of space.
Data centers in space, and perhaps even on the moon, could become crucial to U.S. national security.
The Space Force announced it is spending $3.2 billion through 12 defense contractors to rapidly build the first U.S. system of high-technology, space-based anti-missile interceptors.
Washington Times National Security Correspondent Ben Wolfgang sits down with Karman Space & Defense CEO Jon Rambeau to discuss Artemis, the arsenal of freedom, and what it will take to meet America’s growing defense demands.
Rob DeMillo, CEO of the company Sophia Space, joins the show to talk about orbital compute and the possibility of data centers in space.
When a foreign government can pressure multiple countries to deny airspace to the democratically elected leader of another sovereign nation, it is no longer a matter of diplomacy.
Space Race 2.0 is here. Washington Times National Security Correspondents John T. Seward and Ben Wolfgang are on the ground at Space Symposium 2026 with a look at how military, government, and private industry are converging in the race to dominate space.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman joins Threat Status correspondent John T. Seward to explain how defense is being impacted by NASA’s exploration, how we’re going to see nuclear power in space, and how the trip to the moon and a lunar moon base is a key priority of the Trump administration.
Jeff Thornburg, the CEO and co-founder of Portal Space Systems, joins the show to talk about dynamic space operations and how the recent Artemis mission has reignited Americans’ fascination with space.
China is rapidly building up space-warfare capabilities and by 2040 will be conducting low-level warfare powered by advanced technology aimed at weakening the United States, according to a new Space Force report.
The U.S. is developing a nuclear-powered spaceship designed by technology critical to deep-space exploration and national security, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told The Washington Times in an exclusive interview this week.
NASA’s Artemis II crew, recently returned to Earth, checked the obligatory boxes of identity inclusivity: experience in space, military service and scientific expertise.
It’s crucial that the U.S. establish a permanent base on the moon — including a nuclear reactor on the lunar surface — before China or Russia does, top Trump administration officials said Tuesday at a major space conference.
The accelerating race among global powers for dominance in space will hang in the backdrop next week as leaders from across the space industry and the U.S. military converge on Colorado for the 2026 Space Symposium.
Drawing ever closer to Earth, the Artemis II astronauts tidied up their lunar cruiser for the upcoming “fireball” return and reflected on their historic journey around the moon, describing it as surreal and profound.
Four government security agencies are warning that low-Earth orbit satellite communications, such as SpaceX’s Starlink system, are vulnerable to hostile cyber hacking operations.
With the moon now filling their windows, the Artemis II astronauts set a record Monday as the farthest humans from Earth during a lunar flyby promising magnificent views of the far side never before witnessed.
NASA’s Artemis II astronauts fired their engines and blazed toward the moon Thursday night, breaking free of the chains that have trapped humanity in shallow laps around Earth in the decades since Apollo.