The incoming head of NASA has boldly defied Elon Musk with a promise to finally put humans on the moon again.
The last time a human stepped foot on the moon was over 50 years ago back in 1972 with the final Apollo mission.
The Apollo 17 mission took place from December 7 to 19 of that year and saw Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt become the last two astronauts to walk on the lunar surface.
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However, that could soon be about to change thanks to new efforts from NASA to get humans back on the moon.
Jared Isaacman is set to become the next head of the US space agency and the SpaceX astronaut faced questions in Congress during a confirmation hearing yesterday (April 9).
There, the former fighter jet pilot shared that he intends to prioritize the Artemis program to return astronauts to the moon while also working on ‘sending American astronauts to Mars’ too.
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In the hearing, Isaacman said: “Along the way, we will inevitably have the capabilities to return to the moon and determine the scientific, economic, and national security benefits of maintaining a presence on the lunar surface.”
This contradicts comments made by SpaceX CEO Musk who has publicly called NASA’s moon program a ‘distraction’, adding that ‘we’re going straight to Mars’.
Taking to his own social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Musk also wrote: “The Artemis architecture is extremely inefficient, as it is a jobs-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program. Something entirely new is needed.”
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However, it seems that these views aren’t shared by Isaacman.
Answering questions in Congress, he said: “I’d like nothing more than to see this Artemis 2 crew get around the Moon and then they’re back at home watching their friends walk on the Moon.
“I think the real question is, why has it taken so long, why has it cost so much money?”
Senator Ted Cruz argued that abandoning the Artemis program at this stage could be a bad geopolitical move for the US.
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He said: “An extreme shift in priorities at this stage would almost certainly mean a red moon, ceding ground to China for generations to come.
“I’m hard-pressed to think of more of a catastrophic mistake we could make in space than saying to Communist China, ‘the moon is yours’.”
It’s not clear yet whether Isaacman’s commitment to the moon program will put a strain on his relationship with Musk.