French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Thursday for Europeans to “act” on a massive scale to find their place against the United States and China in the space race, from communications to crewed spaceflight. Speaking with FRANCE 24’s Sharon Gaffney, Svetla Ben-Itzhak, Assistant Professor of Space and International Relations, and Deputy Director of the West Space Scholars Programme at Johns Hopkins University, explains that “Europe does have world-class scientific and industrial capabilities, as well as aspirations, but it lacks the investment, the launch cadence, the scale as well as the degree of political integration that the US and China possess”.