Has Kazakhstan Just Shifted the Balance of Power in the Space Race?

A new deal for Kazakhstan to join Chinese-led plans to build and operate a research base on the moon could set the stage for deepening cooperation between the two countries as Beijing moves to become a leading power in space. The July 3 agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit and admitted Kazakhstan as the 12th member of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a China-led initiative with Russia’s Roskosmos for a lunar base that was announced in 2021 and includes Azerbaijan,…