Is the Artemis II launch part of a space race with China, Russia?

NASA is preparing to launch Artemis II, a crewed mission to orbit the moon scheduled for Wednesday, marking humanity's first crewed lunar journey in over 50 years. The four-person crew will travel farther from Earth than any humans have ventured before. The mission represents a major milestone in NASA's effort to return astronauts to the lunar surface and establish sustained human presence there. The launch comes amid broader geopolitical competition in space, with China and Russia pursuing their own lunar and deep-space programs. Success would demonstrate U.S. capability in human spaceflight and position NASA for the subsequent Artemis III mission, which aims to land astronauts on the moon.