US and China should collaborate on new trips to space, according to British astronaut Tim Peake
The Brit urged other nations to co-operate rather than "race" against each other
British astronaut Tim Peake has called on the US and China to collaborate on new trips to the moon and put an end to rumours of a "space race."
The 53-year-old said lessons should be learned from previous projects between Russia and Western nations who successfully worked together despite geopolitical tensions.
Speaking on the tenth anniversary of his mission to the International Space Station (ISS), Mr Peake said we are "one species and there to cooperate and collaborate."
"Space is incredibly hard, a very hostile environment," he told Sky.
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"It would be foolish to not have things like common docking systems so that we can help each other out if people got into trouble.
"That's the whole spirit of exploration. Okay, we might be coming from different positions, but we're also one species and there to cooperate and collaborate.
"I think as we move forward again and are focusing on the moon as a goal, we should embody this spirit of collaboration."
The comments come after the acting NASA chief, Sean Duffy, said America's mission is to maintain their dominance in space ahead of China.
Speaking in September, Duffy said: "We're going back to the moon, and this time when we plant our flag, we stay.
"Our mission is maintaining American dominance in space. China wants to get there, but we're getting there first. We will win the second space race."
NASA is weeks away from launching four astronauts on a mission to fly around the moon for the first time since the Apollo landing in 1972.
A previous test flight carried out without humans on board identified a series of serious problems with the crew capsule, but the agency is confident those have been fixed.
Mr Peake said: "This SLS rocket is only on its second mission, so there is definitely a greater level of risk associated with it.
"But the astronauts are completely committed to what they're doing, passionate about what they're doing, and all the experts who are working on the Artemis mission would have gone to every effort to make sure the risk is as low as possible."