U.S.-Russia cooperation aboard the International Space Station is hopefully a glimpse of how two nations at an all-time-low in relations can still cooperate on shared interests. However, whether or not this may foreshadow a future for China and the U.S. in orbit is another question.

Beijing, Moscow, and Washington rarely get along - but in the orbit above Earth, the high-stakes and high-investments each nation holds there are a great motivator to come to terms on how to coexist.

China’s recent achievements in space exploration are starkly contrasted with privately led efforts at the center of American aerospace development, and highlight how the two nations remain on separate tracks in the field of science.

Though America and China’s governments see eye-to-eye on very little these days, cooperation in the scientific fields is possible and has been happening quietly for some time.

Space exploration was once a militarized battleground - but with new practices of international cooperation, the atmosphere may be the common ground for the U.S. and China.

China’s recent space ventures and the subsequent Western coverage reveal much about the way news and media play into animosity between two nations.

China’s historic moon landing is the first of its kind in over 44 years— yet it’s a victory that won’t be shared in full due to frosty relationships between China and the leading space-power: the United States.

China is investing heavily in space technology while the US’s program seems to grow more stagnant. If China continues on their current trajectory, they could replace the US as the world’s leading space power.

At a time when political tensions reach more dire straits seemingly by the day, the history of scientific cooperation in the field of astronomy have shown that above all, all people share a single home as citizens of Earth.

In the midst of a devastating pandemic, China’s ambitious space mission to Mars follows in the footsteps of Isaac Newton’s mid-plague scientific explorations.