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In the next two or three years America鈥檚 National Aeronautics and Space Administration - NASA - plans to send a mission into space that will land people on the moon for the first time in over a half a century.

The mission has already been pushed back and is widely expected to be delayed again.

But America is not alone. Both China and India also have ambitions to land people on the lunar surface.

Who is next to walk on the moon is driven by geopolitics and a desire to harness the moon鈥檚 resources. Different countries, and even the private companies involved, all have different agendas. Who gets there first may even determine the political ideology of any future permanent human settlement.

Contributors:
Oliver Morton, Senior Editor at The Economist and author of The Moon, A History for the Future
Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica
Christopher Newman, Professor of space law and policy at Northumbria University
Namrata Goswami, Professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University

Presenter: Tanya Beckett
Producer: Louise Clarke
Journalism Researcher: Matt Toulson
Editor: Tara McDermott
Technical Producer: Richard Hannaford
Production Coordinator: Liam Morrey

Image: U.S. Flag On The Moon by Encyclopaedia Britannica via Getty Images
Credit: NASA Youtube Channel