The space race between China and the United States is entering a long-term battle for the moon. China's Shenzhou-23 manned spacecraft successfully docked with its independent space station Tiangong, beginning full-scale data accumulation for a manned lunar landing in 2030.
Shenzhou-23 successfully docked with Tianhe, the core module of Tiangong, about three hours and 30 minutes after its launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu Province on Tuesday (local time). The three astronauts on board include commander Zhang Lu, along with Zhang Hongzhang and Wu Fei. Among them, Wu Fei is a computer expert and former Hong Kong police officer, marking the first time a Hong Kong native has participated in a Tiangong mission.
The core of this mission is a "long-term stay experiment." While most astronauts will stay for six months as before, one will remain at Tiangong for more than a year to comprehensively analyze the effects on the human body, including genetic changes and metabolic functions. Until now, only Russia and the United States have produced astronauts who carried out single missions of more than a year on a space station, making China the third country to do so.
Building on these achievements, China is accelerating its pursuit in the lunar race. In February, it completed the first test flight of its new manned lunar exploration rocket, Long March 10, and the Mengzhou spacecraft. In the second half of the year, it plans to launch Chang'e-7 for resource exploration at the moon's south pole. Around 2035, China also aims to establish an International Lunar Research Station at the moon's south pole jointly with Russia.
The United States, by contrast, is seeing its target schedule pushed back. The manned lunar landing originally set for 2024 has been postponed to 2028. Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine warned, "Unless current circumstances change, the likelihood of the United States beating China's manned lunar landing schedule is very low."
However, U.S. private space company SpaceX is emerging as a variable. SpaceX achieved its key objectives in the test flight of Starship V3, the largest rocket in history, on Saturday. Starship is a reusable rocket with three times the payload capacity of previous models and is set to be used as a lunar lander in the Artemis project. Experts analyze that while the United States is taking an open strategy of cooperating with multiple private companies, China is sticking to a centralized approach centered on the state-run China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
"Even China Looks Enviable" — Putin Skepticism Spreads Among Russian Establishment
As the war in Ukraine drags on, domestic public opinion regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin has fallen to its worst level since he came to power. Even political and business elites who remained silent in the early days of the war have begun to openly express disappointment.
Britain's The Guardian, based on interviews with Putin's inner circle, business figures, and Western intelligence officials on Friday (local time), assessed that while the view that a coup is imminent is exaggerated, there is no doubt that this is the most difficult phase of Putin's rule. One business figure said the mood among the elite has noticeably changed this year, with deep disappointment in Putin spreading.
Renat Suleymanov, a State Duma (lower house) lawmaker from the opposition Communist Party, also urged in an interview with local media that Russia is finding it difficult to sustain the prolonged Ukraine special military operation and that the war must be ended as soon as possible. However, Putin is not bending in his determination to maintain the current course of the war.
The authorities' internet controls are also accelerating public disaffection. A Kremlin official said social media platforms including Telegram have been blocked one after another, to the point where internet access problems have become a regular topic at dinner tables. There are even remarks that Russia's level of control is now close to North Korea's, and that China has instead become an object of envy.
Approval ratings back this up. According to the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center, Putin's approval rating stood at 65.6% as of mid-April, significantly lower than the 70-80% range in early 2022 before the war. After the survey method was switched from telephone to face-to-face, the figure rebounded slightly to 66.8% in early May, but interpretations have been raised that the change in method affected the results.
Economic deterioration is another major factor. Russia's GDP contracted 0.3% in the first quarter of this year, and the government sharply lowered its growth forecast for the year from 1.3% to 0.4%. Real household income growth is expected to plunge from 7.7% last year to 1.6%, and consumer spending growth from 4% to 1.2%.
"Disarm AI So It Cannot Dominate Humans"
Pope Leo XIV, in his first encyclical since taking office, has issued a strong warning against the indiscriminate spread of artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, he warned that if AI becomes concentrated in the hands of a few powers and capital, it could become a new structure of domination that threatens all of humanity.
Leo XIV personally announced the encyclical "Magnifica Humanitas (Great Humanity)" at the Vatican Synod Hall on Saturday (local time). An encyclical is the highest authoritative pastoral letter from the pope to Catholic believers and bishops worldwide, and this is his first encyclical since his enthronement in May last year.
In the encyclical, Pope Leo XIV expressed concern that the leadership in AI development is concentrated in the private sector rather than government, pointing out that this is creating a structure in which the realization of the common good is difficult. He emphasized that when AI is concentrated in the hands of a few, it deepens subordination, exclusion, and inequality, stressing the need to establish an independent legal regulatory framework and the impossibility of leaving data ownership entirely to the private sector.
He also used the expression that AI must be "disarmed," emphasizing that technology must be prevented from being reduced to a tool of geopolitical and commercial hegemonic competition. Pope Leo XIV explained that disarmament does not mean rejecting technology itself, but preventing technology from dominating humanity, and called for the use of AI in war to be controlled under the strictest ethical standards.
He also directly addressed the issue of labor exploitation in the digital economy. Pope Leo XIV defined the millions of low-wage workers who support AI model training and data labeling, as well as the harsh working conditions at rare earth mining sites, as "a new form of slavery," and called for structural improvements.
Meanwhile, Pope Leo XIV warned political leaders not to use war to divert voters' attention from domestic issues. He is reportedly in conflict with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, which is currently continuing a war with Iran.
