NASA's new leader prioritizes mission to send Americans to Mars

NASA's InSight Mars lander. (Photo: Getty Images/VNA)

Tech billionaire Jared Isaacman, who has just been nominated by President Donald Trump to be the new head of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), affirmed that the mission of sending American astronauts to Mars will be the top priority during his term.

However, he also emphasized the strategic importance of the Moon in the journey to conquer space.

“We will make returning Americans to Mars our number one priority,” Isaacman said in a statement to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee ahead of a hearing scheduled for April 9. “On that journey, we will continue to develop our ability to return to the Moon, while evaluating the scientific, economic , and national security benefits of maintaining a presence on the Moon’s surface.”

Jared Isaacman is a technology entrepreneur who made a splash with the first commercial space flight in 2021.

According to US media, he reassured senators during a meeting last week that returning humans to the Moon remains a “national imperative.”

The announcement is intended to allay concerns from some lawmakers that the Mars focus — which has been championed by President Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk — will overshadow the current lunar program.

In fact, the Artemis program — an effort to return humans to the Moon — was initiated during Mr Trump's first term.

The program's goal is to turn the Moon into a "springboard" for deeper space missions, especially to Mars.

Now that Mr Trump is back in the White House and Mr Isaacman has strong backing from Mr Musk, NASA’s strategic direction could be reshaped to focus more on the Red Planet.

However, this also raises a big question: Does prioritizing Mars mean downplaying the role of the Artemis program, or is it simply a strategic rebalancing with Mars becoming central to long-term planning?

NASA has now invested billions of dollars in Artemis, mobilizing the cooperation of many allied nations and dozens of private companies - including SpaceX - with the goal of building a long-term economic ecosystem on the Moon.

But Mr. Trump’s recent statements that “Mars is the future,” combined with Mr. Musk’s view that “the Moon is a distraction,” are making the future of the lunar program uncertain.

In addition, traditional NASA contractors such as Boeing and Northrop Grumman have also been repeatedly criticized by Mr. Musk.

This further throws the fate of the Space Launch System (SLS) - the main rocket of the Artemis program - into uncertainty.

The project has cost more than $20 billion, and that figure is expected to double in future missions.

So far, SLS has had just one launch — an unmanned test flight in 2022 — after years of delays.

During the hearing, Mr. Isaacman did not hesitate to criticize the slow progress and over budget at NASA.

“It is discouraging that most NASA programs are behind schedule and over budget,” he stressed.

This takes away the inspiration of the public - who always want to look up to the sky and dream about the miracles that await ahead, not in a few decades from now.”./.

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/lanh-dao-moi-cua-nasa-uu-tien-su-menh-dua-nguoi-my-len-sao-hoa-post1026684.vnp