Out: Moon to Mars. In: Moon and Mars.
Jared Isaacman outlined a new path for human space exploration at his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday. The billionaire and two-time SpaceX astronaut said that if he’s confirmed as NASA chief, he will push the agency to land astronauts on the Moon and Mars. That’s in contrast to the Moon-first Mars plan championed by past administrations, including the first Trump White House.
“As the president stated, we will prioritize sending American astronauts to Mars. And along the way we will inevitably have the capabilities to return to the Moon,” said Isaacman.
Shoot for Mars, land on Moon: During the hearing, the entrepreneur faced bipartisan pressure to stay the course on the Artemis program’s Moon goals. “I am hard-pressed to think of a more catastrophic mistake we could make in space than saying, ‘Communist China, the Moon is yours,’” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee that will decide whether to advance Isaacman’s nomination.
Isaacman’s response: Why not both?
“We don’t have to make it a binary decision of Moon versus Mars, or Moon has to come first versus Mars,” he said. “I think we could be paralleling these efforts.”
The fate of SLS and Orion: Isaacman said that the SLS and Orion architecture is still a go—at least for now. He called the SLS the “best and fastest” way to get Artemis II and III astronauts to fly by and land on the Moon, respectively. However, “I don’t think it’s the long-term way to get to and from the Moon and to Mars with great frequency,” he said.
And do the other things:
- Isaacman disagreed with Elon Musk’s proposal to retire the ISS early, committing to using the orbital laboratory for as long as possible. (The space station is currently slated to retire in 2030, with key partner Russia committing until at least 2028.)
- The nominee also vowed to support the LEO economy, invest in R&D projects like nuclear propulsion, and launch more telescopes, probes, and rovers—a sign of hope for the space science community that has been reportedly told to prepare for cuts.
The room where it happened: Isaacman said he had not communicated with Musk since receiving the nomination but declined to answer six—count ‘em, six—direct questions from Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) about whether Musk was in the Mar-a-Lago room when President Donald Trump offered Isaacman the job.
