President Trump’s NASA nominee wants humans on the moon before the end of the Trump administration and while prioritizing the Mars mission.
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It's the moon and Mars, not the moon or Mars
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President Trump's nominee to lead NASA told Congress he wants humans on the moon
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before the end of the Trump administration while prioritizing the Mars mission
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which has a target date in the 2030s. We don't have to make a binary decision of moon versus Mars
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or moon has to come first versus Mars. I think we could be paralleling these efforts
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There's an ongoing moon race between the United States and China. Under the Artemis program, the United States is scheduled to have a crewed lunar flyby in April 2026 and crewed surface landing in mid-2027
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China is scheduled to have multiple lunar lander missions in the same time frame
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but astronauts from the country aren't scheduled to touch down until 2030 and could build a lunar base with Russia by 2035
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We certainly cannot lose. If we do not lead the way and we're following, we may be following forever and the consequence of which could be extraordinary
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I mean, even if you're talking about things that have maybe even a low probability, let's say, for example, on the lunar surface, helium three becomes a new source of fusion power
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It could shift the balance of power here on Earth. I don't think we can afford to find that out the hard way
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Commander Jared Isaacman Jared Isaacman is a billionaire entrepreneur who has been to space twice He was part of the SpaceX crew that performed the first non astronaut spacewalk
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His relationship with SpaceX was a concern for multiple reasons. For one, owner Elon Musk wants to go to Mars
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and lawmakers believe Isaacson may prioritize that, not the ongoing effort to get back to the moon
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In addition, NASA has a $25 billion annual budget, and over the last decade, it has awarded SpaceX $17 billion in contracts
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I believe NASA should be working, again, per my prepared remarks, on the near impossible, what no one else is capable of doing
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and when they figure it out, commercial industry takes over and brings the rest of the world to follow
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As Isaacson explained, since 1989, the United States has spent more than $100 billion
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to get astronauts back on the moon and on Mars. We've done neither
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So when asked if the current Artemis program and Orion spacecraft is the best way to go..
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I don't think it's the long-term way to get to and from the moon and to Mars with great frequency
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but this is the plan we have now. In Greek mythology, Artemis was the goddess of wild animals and the hunt
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When America finally lands back on the moon, it's NASA's mission to make sure a woman takes the first step
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I'm Ray Bogan for Straight Arrow News. For more reporting, download the SAN app
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