I won’t be surprised if Chinese astronauts reach the Moon before American ones return to it. Boeing’s SLS seems to go from bad to worse, and SpaceX’s Starliner is nowhere near ready to completely replace it.
Some people seem to expect SpaceX to work miracles. It has formidable problems to solve before using a Starliner to land astronauts on the Moon. The capability of refuelling Starliner in space, landing on the Moon, refueling there and taking off from it may take to the 2030s to solve.
I won’t be surprised if Chinese astronauts reach the Moon before American ones return to it. Boeing’s SLS seems to go from bad to worse, and SpaceX’s Starliner is nowhere near ready to completely replace it.
Some people seem to expect SpaceX to work miracles. It has formidable problems to solve before using a Starliner to land astronauts on the Moon. The capability of refuelling Starliner in space, landing on the Moon, refueling there and taking off from it may take to the 2030s to solve.
I assume you meant SpaceX’s Starship? Starliner is also Boeing.
In any case, your points still stand. I think Artemis still has a good chance of beating China to the lunar surface, but it could be a close race.