In contrast to the close cooperation among European states, Asian space activity is characterized by increasing rivalry. If current trends continue, this civilian space competition could become a military race. To better understand the emerging dynamics, James Clay Moltz conducts the first in-depth policy analysis of Asia's fourteen leading space programs, with a special focus on developments in China, Japan, India, and South Korea.

Moltz isolates the domestic motivations driving Asia's space actors, revisiting critical events such as China's 2007 antisatellite weapons test and its three manned flights, Japan's successful Kaguya lunar mission and Kibo module for the International Space Station (ISS), India's completion of its Chandaryaan-1 lunar mission, and South Korea's astronaut visit to the ISS and plans to establish independent space-launch capability. He unpacks these nations' divergent space goals and their tendency to focus on national solutions and self-reliance rather than regionwide cooperation and multilateral initiatives. Moltz concludes with recommendations for improved intra-Asian space cooperation and for regional conflict prevention, making this a key text for international relations scholars. He reviews America's efforts to engage Asia's space programs in joint activities and prospects for future U.S. space leadership, and discusses the relationship between space programs and economic development in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, North Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.