President Donald Trump’s NASA chief cannot wait to return to the moon, partially to reemphasize that the United States can do it.
‘We owe it to every one of the pioneers during the 1960s every one of the astronauts that what they did was just the start and not the end of a great journey,’ NASA administrator Jared Isaacman told the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview at NASA’s JFK center in Florida.
Isaacman has a personal passion for space exploration and aviation as an entrepreneur and pilot. He has been to space on two separate SpaceX missions, including the first all-civilian mission in 2021.
He acknowledged that a growing number of Americans believed that the Apollo moon landing was actually an elaborate hoax, but emphasized that he had access to the truth, as the administrator of NASA.
‘I like, literally, have access to all the materials and the boots that were worn on the moon, and seen, you know, the Apollo 11 command module, and spoken to the astronauts, the heroes that actually did it. There’s no question,’ he said.
The conspiracy theories surrounding the moon landing have long-angered people involved with the Apollo space missions. In 2002, astronaut Buzz Aldrin personally punched conspiracy theorist Bart Sibrel in the jaw outside a Beverly Hills hotel, after the filmmaker heckled him for not landing on the moon.
Isaacman pointed to America’s reluctance to build upon the moon missions as probably to blame for more people questioning the authenticity of the mission.
‘I don’t blame people. Hey, it’s been a long time, more than a half century, like, why is it so hard to get back?’ he asked. ‘Well, we owe them that outcome.’
What NASA accomplished in the 1960s with the moon landing, he said, was ‘near impossible’ but recalled that it rallied the entire nation in the space race with Russia.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman speaks about the Artemis program
Mobile launcher 1 containing the massive Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft
‘This is what America does, and it’s and we do it at our best when we’re up against a great competitor,’ he said.
Isaacman said that Trump was emphatic about pushing past the Apollo missions with the launch of the Artemis program that is scheduled to return humans to the moon by 2028.
‘Don’t just go back to the moon to plant the flag and bring back rocks,’ he said, detailing the mission to build a moon base and pursue ‘big, bold endeavors’ in space.
NASA’s Artemis II mission, scheduled to launch in April, will take four astronauts further into space than any other mission on a ten-day voyage around the moon and back to Earth.
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‘It’s going to be the most demanding, most important human space flight mission in a half century,’ he said.
Isaacman said there was ‘no question’ that the United States was in a new space race with China.
China, he said, had a ‘very robust’ space program that should not be underestimated.
‘They don’t have what I would describe even, you know, a lot of the baggage right now,’ he said. ‘They are starting their program from scratch, and they’re resourcing it. They have the expertise and the will, and they are pursuing those goals.’
He acknowledged there had been setbacks with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket powering the Artemis program as it was using a lot of heritage equipment that was ‘really old.’
NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft is rolled back from pad 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stands with the Artemis II crew
The Artemis II mission has already been delayed for problems with the helium flow issues and hydrogen leaks, but Isaacman said it was no surprise that the equipment would need upgrading since it hadn’t been launched since 2022.
In February, Isaacman announced a major overhaul of the Artemis program, including an increase of launch cadence of the SLS. The result, he promised, would be two manned missions to the moon in 2028.
‘The challenges we’ve had up to now should absolutely have been expected. When you consider the history of the program, what matters most is that we’re going to do things differently,’ he said. ‘The status quo is unacceptable.’
NASA’s mission to return to the moon, he said, was the goal of the space program for over 30 years and the cost of the program had surpassed $100 billion.
‘You come up short. That sends a message to the world,’ he said.
Isaacman credited President Trump for lighting a fire under NASA’s mission, by passing significant funding for the program and getting everyone in Congress focused on the task at hand.
‘This is a president who appreciates space very much. He’s given us the mandate. He’s given us the funding … you combine that with the appropriations from Congress, we got all the ingredients to go out and change the world in air and space,’ he said.
