Although the space agency has typically restricted the employment of Chinese citizens, Chinese nationals on US visas without affiliations with Chinese government institutions or state-owned companies could contribute as contractors, graduate students, or university scientists.
On Wednesday, Nasa spokeswoman Bethany Stevens said the agency had taken “internal action” pertaining to Chinese nationals. This includes “restricting physical and cybersecurity access to our facilities, materials, and network to ensure the security of our work”, she said.
On September 5, Chinese citizens lost physical and virtual access to Nasa’s data systems and to agency meetings pertaining to their work, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news, citing people familiar with the situation.
Both countries plan to send crewed missions to the moon in the next five years, with Nasa targeting a landing in 2027 and China aiming to put astronauts there by 2030.
Last week, acting Nasa administrator Sean Duffy said on Fox News that beating China in the space race was “critically important” and rejected claims that the US was falling behind.
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