Space race heats up as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos target lunar base before China

Feb 14, 2026, 12:38 AM

The space race between U.S. billionaires is intensifying as Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to build a lunar base and Jeff Bezos accelerates Blue Origin’s ambitions, since both companies aim to return humans to the moon before China’s anticipated mission in 2030.

With a planned IPO this year, SpaceX CEO Musk has mentioned in recent podcast interviews and company meetings his desire to build "Moonbase Alpha" and place a satellite-launching device on the lunar surface. This base would support his envisioned AI-computing network of up to one million satellites.

Musk’s increasing commitment to the moon has shifted SpaceX’s aspirational focus from its Mars colonization mission, which he has consistently pursued since founding the company in 2002. As recently as last summer, Musk expressed his hope to launch an uncrewed Starship mission to Mars, referring to the moon as a "distraction."

In recent weeks, Bezos’ space company Blue Origin has also heightened its focus on its own moon program, closing its suborbital space tourism business to redirect resources towards its Blue Moon lunar lander program in preparation for a planned uncrewed mission to the lunar surface this year.

Musk now aims to convince investors that SpaceX will remain the leading force in space ahead of a planned IPO later this year that could value the company at over $1 trillion. On Friday, the company launched its latest astronaut mission for NASA to the International Space Station.

After a series of Musk’s posts on X this week about a "pivot" to the moon, Bezos shared a black-and-white image of a tortoise, referencing Aesop’s fable where the slow and steady tortoise wins the race against the fast but impulsive hare. Blue Origin has adopted this fable in its motto "Gradatim Ferociter," Latin for "step by step, ferociously."

Executives at other space companies say they also expect to benefit from increased spending on the new lunar mission by the U.S. government and its two main space contractors.

Bezos hot on Musk’s heels

Blue Origin’s uncrewed mission to the moon this year serves as a precursor for an astronaut landing, part of NASA’s Artemis program which also heavily depends on SpaceX’s Starship.

Seattle-based Blue Origin’s lander was recently shipped to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas for thermal and vacuum testing, a critical development step towards launch.

Blue Origin and SpaceX are constructing their lunar landers with billions of dollars in funding from NASA, which intends to use them for a series of astronaut lunar landings beginning with SpaceX’s Starship. NASA first landed humans on the moon in 1969, with a total of 12 U.S. astronauts walking on the moon as part of the Apollo program that concluded in 1972.

NASA sees a return to the moon as practice for future missions to Mars. The agency has urged companies to accelerate their lunar lander development to win the space race against China, which has its own 2030 lunar astronaut landing in sight.

Musk stated this week that he wants to go further by establishing a "self-growing city" on the moon and launching AI satellites from its surface — part of his broader aim to extend AI computing into space, following SpaceX’s acquisition of Musk’s xAI this month.

"If the moon becomes a strategic jump-off point, and one that’s important to SpaceX, if they can get there first or early and build out that infrastructure, they might influence how it gets used and how they use it," said Andrew Chanin, CEO at ProcureAM, a space-focused investment firm.

Ripple effects boost space firms

SpaceX’s Starship rocket has not yet deployed anything into orbit but has launched 11 times since 2023 and is set for an upgraded test in a month. The rocket’s upper stage, serving as the lunar lander, is facing a 2028 crewed lunar landing date that many in the industry see as challenging.

SpaceX still has many steps in Starship’s development as a lunar lander, including practicing its unique refueling process in orbit with another "tanker" Starship, and reliably landing on the moon’s rugged surface before carrying humans on board.

Kathy Lueders, who led NASA’s human space operations unit before joining SpaceX to oversee Starship’s development site in Texas, said the urgency in the SpaceX-Blue Origin rivalry, with Musk now focusing more on the moon, boosts NASA’s competitiveness against China.

"With Elon making these declarations, the company is now intensely focused on returning to the moon," Lueders, now an independent industry advisor, commented.

The Musk-Bezos rivalry is creating ripple effects across other areas of the emerging U.S. lunar industry.

"I’ve had 20 investors reach out to me this week," said Justin Cyrus, CEO of Lunar Outpost, a company that has deployed a lunar rover to the lunar surface with future plans to build a network of lunar infrastructure.

"There’s a very noticeable shift in the investment community’s mindset regarding the lunar surface over the past two years, and I believe Elon’s announcement has added urgency," he remarked.