Wolf Amendment haunts US more now

Although the United States wants to borrow lunar soil sample collected by China's Chang'e 6 lunar probe, the Wolf Amendment in the US prohibits the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from using government funds to engage in direct, bilateral cooperation with the Chinese government and/or China-affiliated organizations without explicit authorization from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Congress.

The Wolf Amendment is clear about denying China access to what the US had a monopoly over, such as the world's only lunar soil sample back then, or where the US had a very big say, such as at the International Space Station, which was the world's only space station in orbit back then. The US failed to consider the progress China was making in astronautics when it was drafting the Wolf Amendment, and now it has to pay for that misjudgment because the amendment disallows it from engaging in official collaboration with China too.

Even though an internal email sent by NASA at the end of 2023 claimed application to China's lunar sample was "necessary" because of its "unique value", the Wolf Amendment still prohibits collaboration with Chinese institutions that have the sample.

It is clear from this instance that the US' unilateralism extends to the astronautical sector. When it enjoyed a monopoly, it made amendments to ban collaboration with China, and now that its monopoly is gone, the amendment haunts them.