NASA’s new boss Jared Isaacman walked into the job on Thursday and wasted no time shaking both SpaceX and Blue Origin, saying the agency will choose the company that builds a working moon lander first.
He said the faster team will take Americans back to the lunar surface for the first time in more than fifty years. He made the point during a Bloomberg TV interview on his first day, right after meeting President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. He said both companies understood the rule clearly and that the one that finishes first will carry US astronauts under the Artemis program.
Isaacman juggling SpaceX, Blue Origin and delays at NASA
SpaceX and Blue Origin already have contracts with NASA to develop their lunar landers. SpaceX holds more than $4 billion in NASA deals to move astronauts to the moon using its Starship spacecraft.
That plan, at least for now, puts SpaceX in the lead. But this advantage is not locked in, because NASA’s former acting administrator Sean Duffy announced in October that the agency would “open up” the SpaceX contract to competition. He said he grew frustrated by delays in Starship’s timeline.
Starship has hit several technical issues over the past year.Those setbacks have drawn critics who say the slow pace could allow China to land its astronauts on the moon before the United States.
Jared made it clear that whichever lander becomes available first will be the one NASA uses to push forward the Artemis mission.
Jared also founded Shift4 Payments Inc., and he becomes NASA’s leader at a time when the agency faces funding questions tied to proposals from both Congress and the White House.
He pushed back on concerns and said NASA can work with either a $20 billion or $25 billion yearly budget, and that both numbers are meaningful enough to carry out the agency’s plans.
Trump signs executive order for Artemis 2028 project
Jared said Trump approved a new executive order during their meeting. The order restates the core of the Artemis program and tells NASA to return astronauts to the moon by 2028 and build a lunar base by 2030.
Jared told Bloomberg that the order “takes things to a whole other scale.” He said NASA is not returning to the moon only to leave footprints. He said the goal is long-term infrastructure that supports science, economic activity, and national security interests.
The order does more than that.It directs the government to remove the National Space Council and move its authority to the Office of Science and Technology Policy.That council was set up in 1989 to advise presidents on space policy.
The order also launches work on next-generation missile-defense systems under Trump’s Golden Dome plan, which calls for new tools to find and track threats from low-Earth orbit to cislunar space.
Artemis relies on Boeing’s Space Launch System and Lockheed Martin’s Orion capsule. The program is expected to cost $93 billion by 2025 and so far has flown only one mission. NASA has delayed the first Artemis landing several times, most recently pushing the target year to 2027.
In July, Congress approved almost $10 billion for Artemis as part of Trump’s major tax and spending package. The money supports the fourth and fifth SLS flights that the administration once considered cutting in favor of cheaper commercial options.
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