China launches moon mission in base race with US

News Snapshot:

SINGAPORE—Across China and among the global scientific community, Friday’s launch of a Chinese mission to collect samples from the moon’s far side has been hailed for its potential for a scientific breakthrough. But in the U.S., lawmakers and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are closely watching the expedition with trepidation: as a milestone in a rival’s campaign to build a base on the moon’s most strategic location. The latest frontier of the U.S.-China technological Cold War orbits 240,000 miles above us. Though lacking the specter of nuclear war from the U.S.-Soviet space race six decades ago, this new rivalry...