New Delhi, July 2 -- WASHINGTON - The question is no longer whether the United States intends to build a permanent base on the Moon. The question, settled quietly last Monday with three contract signings worth nearly $600 million, is who will carry the bricks there.

NASA awarded new agreements to Astrobotic Technology, Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines on June 30 for commercial lunar landers designed to ship cargo and scientific instruments to the Moon's south pole beginning in late 2028. The awards represent the latest tranche of a program NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has called the most consequential expansion of American space operations since Apollo, one that now faces a race against time, an accelerating Chinese deadlin...