In a tactical move geared toward the impending space-race with China, President-elect Barack Obama and his transition team are considering tearing down long-standing barriers between the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA, by proposing collaboration between the two parties.

Bloomberg cites sources close to the Obama team who believe that such a co-operation would decrease the time it would take for NASA to return to the moon.

The main obstacle in this endeavour is building a rocket to carry Orion, the next generation of NASA spacecraft, to the ISS, the Moon and elsewhere into the solar system. NASA intends to use the new Ares I to achieve this. The preliminary design review for Ares was completed last year, and its first launch date is set for 2015.

Obama, however, would like Orion in the sky before that time. If the U.S. wants to have a self-sufficient space program, it needs a rocket system. This is because the space shuttle is set to retire in 2010, so having Orion powered by Ares in 2015, there’s an interval of five years in which the U.S. will have to rely on (and pay) Russia to ferry astronauts to the ISS with Soyuz rockets.

If you consider historical delays with new spacecraft designs, chances are it’ll be even more than that. Add to that the increasing demands for federal funds brought upon by the recession, and you’ll see NASA’s predicament.

Reportedly, the way the Obama team wants to solve this, is by having the DoD share some of its resources with NASA to help it along, and maybe even scrap the Ares idea altogether, and use the Pentagon’s Atlas or Delta rockets instead, both of which are much further along in development.

Regardless of the decision, the new administration will certainly feel the pressure from China’s astronautical endeavours, which include landing a robotic rover on the moon in 2012, and a manned mission several years later.