At the same time, Isaacman spoke for a “return to the moon”. The missions to Mars and the moon could run in parallel, said the designated NASA boss on questions from the senators who have to agree to his nomination. This could “do almost impossible – which is exactly the reason why the American taxpayers finance NASA in the first place,” he emphasized.
Isaacman is the founder of the SHIFT4 payment service and the Draken International Aviation Company for Military Services. The 42-year-old maintains close contacts with Trump’s government advisor Elon Musk. With its space company SpaceX, Isaacman flown twice.
From the end of 2026, Musk will first strive for an unmanned MARS mission with a human-like robot. If this is successful, manned Mars missions could follow from 2029, “although in 2031 it seems more likely,” Musk announced in mid-March.
Trump had preferred the artemis moon mission in his first term from 2017. However, this has to deal with technical problems and massive increasing costs. It was only in December that NASA postponed its plans for the first manned moon landing to mid -2027 for more than 50 years.
