Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen has announced that Europe is at risk of falling behind in the global space race and key technologies. This statement was made before his second trip to space on a mission with SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, in August. Mogensen, who will be the first non-American astronaut to pilot the Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, hopes to one day embark on a European independent mission to space. He said in an interview with Reuters, "It would be a great honor to launch on a European spacecraft." Currently, the European Space Agency can only launch crewed European missions through international cooperation.
The United States is currently leading the "space race," as the budget for NASA has been increasing since the White House called for the largest budget allocation in decades in 2020 to reach the Moon. Since then, NASA's budget has risen annually, reaching $32 billion in 2023, according to the official government spending website.
