The Chinese WILL beat us to this and whatever is left of our country by then will be either trying to play catch-up or will be buying our precious minerals from the Chinese.
Note how the U.K. had big plans for space exploration for the last 50 years but nothing came to fruition, they can only buy satelites and launches from others and haven;t done much in space themselves. This is because the “farewell to the state, welfare state” always took top priority.
I find predictions about the Chinese amusing.
One of my small appliances, a toaster, was made in China. If Chinese spacecraft and aircraft carriers work as well as the toaster...we ain’t got any worries!