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Linie 4 - A New Space Race to the Moon? The Moon as a Stage for Contemporary World Politics

(Picture: Christina Zschieschang)

Humanities return to the moon is getting closer. After only six successful unmanned landings between 1977 and 2024, nine such missions are planned for this year alone. In addition to several private missions, there are currently two government lunar programmes that are designed for a long-term human presence in the lunar region and are to be completed by 2035.

With the Artemis programme, the USA and its partners are pursuing the goal of setting up a space station similar to the ISS in lunar orbit and landing humans on the lunar surface again. At the same time, China, Russia and their partners are planning the construction of the International Lunar Research Station at the south pole of the moon and manned flights there. This is happening at a time of increasing political tension in the world, particularly between China and the USA. This raises the question of whether we are in a new race to the moon.

In her lecture A New Space Race to the Moon? The Moon as a Stage for Contemporary World Politics, Christina Zschieschang gives an overview of the fundamental principles and trends of international space politics and shows the impact of current political events on moon politics. She will address key questions such as: What are the consequences of Donald Trump's election as US President? What role do private companies like SpaceX play? And what does the war in Ukraine have to do with the moon? The lecture is part of the public lecture series Linie 4, which the BGHS is organising together with the vhs Bielefeld.
Christina Zschieschang is a political scientist and doctoral researcher at the BGHS. She is writing her doctoral thesis on ‘A human future in space? The impact of imaginations of the future on contemporary world politics’. She completed her Masters in political science at Freie Universität Berlin in 2023 and has been a research associate at the Faculty of Sociology in Bielefeld since October 2023. 

The lecture will take place on Wednesday, 7 May 2025 at 6.15 pm in room 240 at the vhs Bielefeld, Ravensberger Park 1. The event will be held in German.