Billionaire spacewalker highlights Mars trip for astronauts in his bid to become NASA's next chief

FILE - Commander Jared Isaacman speaks astatine a quality league aft arriving astatine the Kennedy Space Center for an upcoming backstage quality spaceflight ngo successful Cape Canaveral, Fla., Aug. 19, 2024.

John Raoux/AP

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The nominee for NASA’s apical job, billionaire spacewalker Jared Isaacman, outlined his imaginativeness for abstraction exploration connected Wednesday that prioritizes sending astronauts to Mars without giving up connected the moon.

“It's imperative that we bash both,” Isaacman told senators.

President Donald Trump nominated Isaacman to go NASA’s 15th head precocious past year. If confirmed, the tech entrepreneur would go the youngest idiosyncratic to pb the abstraction bureau and among lone a fistful of administrators to person really rocketed into orbit.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee gathered successful Washington for the information hearing. Besides Isaacman, 9 different experienced abstraction travelers were successful the audience, including NASA's adjacent satellite unit and passengers who flew connected backstage spaceflights with him.

Isaacman assured the senators that helium would not springiness up connected the satellite and wants the U.S. to bushed China successful landing astronauts there.

“I didn’t accidental we shouldn’t spell to the moon,” helium said. “What’s taking truthful agelong to get backmost to the satellite and wherefore does it outgo truthful overmuch money? I perfectly privation to spot america instrumentality to the moon.”

Moon and Mars expeditions tin beryllium developed successful parallel. “I don't deliberation these are either-or,” helium added. NASA tin spend some nether existent funding, helium said, without elaborating.

Isaacman, 42, has already flown successful abstraction twice, buying his ain trips with SpaceX, and performed the world’s archetypal backstage spacewalk past September. An experienced pitchy pilot, helium made his luck with a outgo processing institution helium started arsenic a precocious schoolhouse dropout successful his parents’ basement, present called Shift4.

He acknowledged successful his grounds that helium is not “a emblematic nominee for this position.”

“I person been comparatively apolitical; I americium not a idiosyncratic and I ne'er worked astatine NASA," helium said. “I bash not deliberation these are weaknesses.”

The abstraction bureau and others were anxious to perceive Isaacman’s basal connected the satellite and Mars for quality exploration, fixed his adjacent relation with SpaceX’s Elon Musk.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the committee's chairman, urged the request to “stay the course” with NASA's plans to instrumentality astronauts to the moon.

“An utmost displacement successful priorities astatine this signifier would astir surely mean a reddish moon, ceding crushed to China for generations to come," Cruz said.

NASA has been pitching the satellite arsenic the adjacent logical measurement for astronauts for years. The Artemis programme aims to nonstop a unit astir the satellite adjacent twelvemonth and onshore astronauts adjacent the moon’s southbound rod arsenic aboriginal arsenic 2027. Lunar bases are planned this clip around, not conscionable speedy visits similar the ones during NASA’s Apollo missions successful the precocious 1960s and aboriginal 1970s.

Artemis has been dilatory going and expensive, particularly for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. It’s lone blasted disconnected erstwhile truthful acold — successful 2022 without a crew.

Musk favors Mars arsenic a destination, arsenic helium ramps up much trial flights retired of Texas for Starship, the world’s biggest and astir almighty rocket. By making Starship reusable, helium intends to dramatically little costs of getting radical and instrumentality to the reddish planet.

NASA has chosen Starship for its archetypal 2 astronaut landings connected the satellite nether Artemis, named aft Apollo’s duplicate sister successful Greek mythology.

When asked if Musk has contacted him since his information astir however to negociate NASA, Isaacman replied, “not astatine all.” Isaacman past was questioned however helium would support against undue power from Musk, fixed SpaceX's billions of dollars' worthy of contracts with NASA.

“I perfectly privation to beryllium clear," Isaacman said. “My loyalty is to this nation, the abstraction bureau and their world-changing mission."

Isaacman said helium supports continuing the International Space Station done 2030, arsenic presently planned by NASA. Musk suggested earlier this twelvemonth that the abstraction presumption should beryllium dumped arsenic soon arsenic imaginable successful bid to absorption connected Mars.

When pressed by senators again earlier the proceeding ended, Isaacman said the abstraction presumption should support going until it's replaced by backstage outposts successful orbit.

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April 9, 2025|Updated April 9, 2025 12:28 p.m.