This paper argues that the contemporary lunar race—centered on the quest to establish permanent bases on the Moon—is fundamentally shaped by status-seeking behavior alongside economic, military, and scientific ambitions. Theoretically, it advances international status literature in three ways: first, by demonstrating how status-seeking is intertwined with ontological security and great-power identity; second, by showing how material and ideational drivers of state behavior are mutually constitutive rather than analytically separable; and third, by extending status theory to include the gendered and masculinized dimensions of hierarchy, competition, and frontier narratives in space politics. Focusing on the United States and China as the principal contenders in the new great-power Moon race, the paper highlights both similarities and differences in how the two powers pursue status through space exploration. While both frame lunar exploration as a marker of national greatness, technological leadership, and geopolitical influence, they articulate these ambitions differently. The United States openly presents the Artemis program as a struggle to preserve American leadership and maintain a US-centered order in outer space. China, by contrast, advances a more restrained discourse emphasizing peaceful co-operation and collective benefit, while simultaneously using the International Lunar Research Station to signal China’s rise as a major space power and strengthen domestic regime legitimacy. The paper concludes that the new lunar race reflects a broader transformation of geopolitical competition, status hierarchies, and international order beyond Earth.