China is taking the fight to the stars. America must reclaim space supremacy

As one who has had the honor to consult for NASA and the Space Shuttle team in the past; work space-defense related issues in the Pentagon; speak with all twelve men who walked on the Moon; and author tens of columns on the subject, I have been "Johnny One-Note" over the last decade or so warning that the Peoples Republic of China is seeking to establish itself as the dominant military power in space for decades to come. Did anyone in authority care? Not so much.

That may now be changing. Two recent stories in the news have certainly elevated not only interest, but apprehension.

The first being when Air Force Secretary Troy Meink recently confirmed that the U.S. has weapons stationed in Earth orbit. Said Meink, in part, presumably as a warning to China and, to a lesser extent, Russia at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference: "Today, we continue to ensure we remain ready to meet the challenges of evolving threats wherever they exist. This is why the United States now has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action…"

PENTAGON REVEALS SECRET SPACE WEAPONS ARE ALREADY IN ORBIT — BUT WON'T SAY WHAT THEY DO

The second — and potentially much more intriguing — was highlighted in the site "Defense One" via the headline: "The Pentagon must prepare for battles around the moon: Joint Chiefs chair."

During the same Air, Space, and Cyber conference in which he delivered the Keynote address, it was reported that General Dan Caine — who is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — said in part: "Our task, my friends, is to adapt right now, so the Joint Force is prepared to fight, endure, and win, in global contested environments, from the seabed to cislunar space…"

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"Cislunar" in this case means not just in lunar orbit, but on the surface of the Moon. The stuff of fiction? In the past, yes. Today, it must all be about the national and economic security of our nation.

On that fiction front, several years ago I authored a novel — based on some real-world information from a Soviet General — titled "The Dawn of a Nazi Moon." While hopefully an entertaining and historically accurate story, the major premise of the book was to outline how an adversary could use the Moon as the ultimate "High Ground" against an enemy on Earth.

The belief by some that once humans cut through Earths atmosphere into the vacuum of space, our flaws, greed, prejudices and military ambitions will be left behind is not only naïve, but quite dangerous. No one understood that better at the time than President John F. Kennedy.

During his now iconic speech at Rice University on September 12, 1962, on the need for the U.S. to become the "preeminent spacefaring nation," President John F. Kennedy rightfully stressed in part:

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"We mean to be a part of it — we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the Moon and to