NASA chief nominee, contradicting Musk, opts for the moon first over Mars
NASA administrator nominee Jared Isaacman vowed to prioritize a lunar landing on Wednesday, siding with lawmakers who want to focus efforts on returning to the moon over the desires of Elon Musk to head straight to Mars.
Isaacman, a commercial astronaut and billionaire business partner of Musk's, allayed concerns during his confirmation hearing that he would pull resources out of a long-planned mission to the moon in favor of a more perilous — and nearly impossible — trip to the red planet.
'I'd like nothing more than to see … Americans walking on the moon,' he said, referring to a planned moon mission known as Artemis. 'I don't think we have to make any tough trades' between a moon and Mars mission.
Isaacman's comments — in response to questions from Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chair Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — appeared to conflict with his opening statement, which supported a crewed mission to Mars but made no explicit promise to land on the moon.
The entrepreneur didn't rule out the agency ever supporting a Mars landing. But he made it clear that the moon would come out on top. And he committed to maintaining NASA's Artemis mission at least through its next voyage in 2026.
Musk, a close adviser to President Donald Trump, has called the agency's moon focus a 'distraction' and promoted a crewed Mars mission. Trump, whose first administration set the goal of a moon landing for NASA, promised the U.S. would head to Mars during his inaugural address.
Isaacman said that he would not be influenced by Musk when making NASA policy.
Cruz, who seemed relieved at the billionaire's moon focus, warned that any shifting of priorities would benefit Beijing.
'An extreme shift in priorities at this stage would almost certainly mean a red moon, ceding ground to China for generations to come,' he said.
But Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the panel's top Democrat, appeared unsatisfied.
She had unanswered questions about his support for launch, redundancy, space centers and contracting methods. NASA needs a leader with a strong vision to take it in a clear direction, she said in an interview after the hearing.
'He's still being a little too vague about his view,' she said. 'Of the whole thing.'
Joe Gould contributed to this report.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this report misspelled Ted Cruz's name.
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