Why the U.S. shouldn’t simply race to Lagrange points 

From the first satellite in orbit, to the first human in space, to the first steps on the moon, the United States government has always framed space exploration as a race. As U.S.-China space competition intensifies, so too does our American instinct to reach the next first. The Earth-moon Lagrange points may be next. In 2024, the U.S. House Select Committee on the China adopted the most definitive U.S. guidance yet on these special locations in cislunar space: “ensure that the United States is the first country to permanently station assets at all Lagrange points,” as part of a broader strategy to “counter [China’s] malign ambitions in space.”