The United States is racing to the moon once again.

The nation aims to put boots on the lunar surface by 2024, four years earlier than previously planned, Vice President Mike Pence announced yesterday (March 26). The schedule shift was prompted at least in part by a desire to defeat two other space powers that Pence described as adversaries: Russia and China.

“Make no mistake about it — we’re in a space race today, just as we were in the 1960s, and the stakes are even higher,” Pence said during the fifth meeting of the National Space Council (NSC) at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Related: Home On the Moon: How to Build a Lunar Colony (Infographic)