16: Rick Fisher Reports on China's Reusable Rocket Deluge and US Moon Race Political Pressures Rick Fisher with John Batchelor Rick Fisher reported that China has 27 reusable space launch vehicle projects underway, predicting a "deluge" of cheap space service

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

News, Arts, Books, Society & Culture

4.5 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Rick Fisher Reports on China's Reusable Rocket Deluge and US Moon Race Political Pressures Rick Fisher with John Batchelor Rick Fisher reported that China has 27 reusable space launch vehicle projects underway, predicting a "deluge" of cheap space services to compete with SpaceX. He noted that President Trump is alarmed that China may win the second race to the moon. Trump pressured NASA Administrator Duffy to open the Human Landing System competition to Blue Origin, signaling that politics and winning the race are paramount, regardless of competitor viability. China's first reusable booster test could occur before year-end.

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0:00.0	Building a coffee business?
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0:17.9	Visit sumup.co.uk to learn more.
0:24.0	This is CBSI on the world. I'm John Batchett. Gordon Chang at Gordon G. Chang,
0:28.4	who's traveling. He's in glamorous Hollywood. We go to our colleague, Rick Fisher.
0:32.8	We need a hardware, software, mission update on the return to the moon by NASA and its attendance
0:43.2	and by what remains of the civilian part of the Chinese space program in conjunction
0:50.9	with the Roscosmos brand of boosters and space vehicles.
0:58.4	All of this together to the moon at some point in the near future.
1:03.3	Rick, we begin with the booster.
1:06.0	We both know, in order to get to the moon, you've got to build a booster big enough
1:09.7	to get about 100 tons in the air, I believe.
1:14.0	I don't remember the exact numbers.
1:16.4	And into lunar orbit, and because there are different scales of success will start first with the Chinese scale of success.
1:26.3	They at this point, to my knowledge, do not possess a reusable booster big enough for a lift,
1:32.4	but they're working on it.
1:33.6	How's that going?
1:34.5	Good evening to you.
	...

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