Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Can the United States beat China to the Moon? NASA Chief Jared Isaacman Talks Making 2028 a Reality – YouTube Watch On NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman is serious about launching “big rockets” to the Moon each year for the agency’s Artemis program. And the new space race with China is fueling that ambition. “I feel good. I feel like we’re certainly on a more achievable path to the lunar surface today than where we were before,” Isaacman told Space.com. We recently sat down with the head of NASA to discuss the status of the Artemis program, and right off the bat, he made it clear that he has confidence in the US space program following the success of the Artemis II mission around the moon in April. In fact, just before our conversation, it was announced that Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman will become the new deputy director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. But the path from the success of Artemis II to manned lunar landings and, later, a permanent lunar base will require many launches of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket, Isaacman emphasized. “You know, a lot of people, especially in the space community, are starting to understand [into] whether the landers are there or not. I don’t really care about that now. What I care about is that we’re launching big rockets at least once a year,” he said. “I think it’s imperative that NASA is doing these deep space human spaceflight missions right now,” Isaacman added. “So we had a big mission in April of the 26th. We’ll launch again on the 27th.” You might like That next launch will be for Artemis III, a crewed mission to low Earth orbit that will test docking procedures between NASA’s Orion capsule and one or both of the landers. private moons of the Artemis program: SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon. “We need to continue to flex those muscles,” he said, referring to SLS takeoffs. “And honestly, once a year isn’t great either. I mean, I don’t think we’re going back to basics. [space] shuttle days, you know, four missions a year. I don’t think we’ll get back to where we were with Apollo, but once a year is the minimum… I would testify to that before Congress in this role years later. “If NASA is going to carry out deep space missions, complicated missions, [we should] “Launch at least once a year and take advantage of everything you can to take a risk and spend taxpayer money and build toward something bigger,” Isaacman added. “That’s what we’re doing with Artemis III, and that’s what will best prepare us for Artemis IV.” Learning some lessons from past lunar missions with Apollo, today it relies primarily on the breadth of experience and talent within the agency, according to Isaacman. “Artemis II is very different from Apollo 8, and Artemis III will be very different from Apollo 9,” he said. “Our approach is not exactly the same as before… But what is the same now? The spirit, the energy, the potential within NASA. The talent of the workforce and the industry is no different than it was in the 1960s.” What to read next There’s another similarity to the Apollo era: NASA has a rival in its race to the moon. While the adversary in the 1960s was the Soviet Union, today the United States is competing against China. “It’s a real space race,” Isaacman said. But, he added, “this one is very different from the first one.” “Everything is closer than it was, not just in space. I mean, we had the advantage in computing. [and] each of the technological domains during the Cold War. Our capabilities were much better,” he said. “[But with] China, it is not [like that]. They’re very close.” “We’re saying we’re going to land on the moon in late 2028. China says late 2029,” Isaacman added. “And it’s like, well, are they going to do it? Yes, they will. They’ve shown off their landers, their rovers, their suits, their two-launch architecture with built-in reusability. “So, according to Isaacman, NASA is taking the Chinese threat very seriously. “The consequence of being wrong, I assure you, will be felt around the world,” he said. “It will call everything into question.” “Should I use American superintelligence or AI? Should I do Chinese? Should you buy your computers? Should it be? [buying] our? Buy their cars, their planes, their boats? Who do you trust with security assurances?” Isaacman added. “I think the implications are pretty serious, which is why we’re taking it so seriously and putting such extreme focus on the mission right now. But we have that playbook of success and I think we will prevail.”
