NASA Bars Chinese Nationals With US Visas From Its Space Programs

Last Updated:September 11, 2025, 09:34 IST

The United States has cited security as a reason behind the move. The development comes at the same time when both China and America plan to send crews to the Moon.

The NASA logo is seen at Kennedy Space Center (Reuters image used for representation)

NASA is blocking Chinese citizens, restricting their access to its programmes, in a move said to have been taken to ensure the security of the space agency, as reported by AFP.

“NASA has taken internal action pertaining to Chinese nationals, including restricting physical and cybersecurity access to our facilities, materials, and network to ensure the security of our work," NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens told AFP on Wednesday.

While NASA had earlier allowed Chinese citizens to work as contractors or students contributing to research, several individuals on September 5 told Bloomberg that they were suddenly locked out of IT systems and barred from in-person meetings.

The development comes at a time when the United States and China are competing to send crews to the Moon.

While America plans to land on the moon in 2027 under the US Artemis program, it has faced some delays. At the same time, China aims to land its “taikonauts" by 2030 under its program, and has recently been more successful at meeting deadlines, as per the AFP report.

“We’re in a second space race right now," NASA’s acting administrator Sean Duffy told reporters Wednesday, speaking at a news conference related to discoveries made with a US rover on Mars.

“The Chinese want to get back to the Moon before us. That’s not going to happen. America has led in space in the past, and we are going to continue to lead in space in the future."

China is also set to launch a robotic mission in 2028, aiming to be the first country to return a sample from the Martian surface.

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