With America's support "double that of during the Kennedy era" for returning to the Moon, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said this week that we'll have a permanent lunar base within 20 years, and American astronauts living there full-time.
But that might not be today's biggest news from the entrepreneur-turned-astronaut-turned-NASA-head.
“If we do want to have that extraordinary future that many of us imagine, you have to have some sort of a space economy to fund it,” he said, adding that "We’re supposed to be doing what no other government agency, no company is capable of doing, no other nation around the world.”
While building a permanent lunar base in under 20 years might seem ambitious, SpaceX's Starship (still under development) could drive launch costs low enough to compress Isaacman's timeline. We might lack the will more than the ability.
But that's just the start. "Rather than treating the moon as a destination," Chris Pugh reported on Wednesday, "NASA views it as a proving ground."
Speaking with the New York Post's Lydia Moynihan, Isaacman said that while "The three most powerful rockets in the world are going to launch in a span of about a week," which he called "really quite cool," the coolest part might be his agency's renewed focus on nuclear-powered spacecraft that could put far more than just the Moon within practical reach.
Following a 2025 executive order by President Donald Trump to pursue nuclear propulsion, Isaacman said in March that "American space superiority" would be based in part on nuclear. This isn't some multi-decade maybe/kinda/sorta dream. NASA's Space Reactor-1 Freedom, a nuclear-electric propulsion rocket, is set to begin its voyage to Mars in December 2028.
In addition to proving nuclear can take us to Mars, SR-1 Freedom will deliver SkyFall, an entry capsule that will deploy three next-generation Mars helicopters evolved from the Ingenuity design. Even cooler — although having nothing to do with the nuclear portion of the project — is that the helicopters will land themselves after being released from the capsule midair.
I should add that SR-1 Freedom will take a leisurely one-year course to Mars, hopefully paving the way for larger spacecraft capable of greater acceleration — and shorter travel times. If it works, this will be the U.S.'s first nuclear-propelled spacecraft since NASA's short-lived SNAP program ended in 1965.
While ambitious, Isaacman is also a realist about life off Earth. “Mars is going to suck to live in. You’re going to live in a bubble. You’re going to get pelted with radiation all the time. You’re never going to have a beach day,” he told Moynihan. “Earth is the nice house in the neighborhood. Pretty much everything in our solar system is going to be a significant step down from Earth.”
But like SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Isaacman seems to be mainly concerned with humanity's "massive concentration risk on Earth," as he put it, should the worst befall us.
I'd just add that it would be better for all concerned if the leading space pioneers and settlers were liberty-loving Americans.
One more thing about Isaacman's interview stood out.
“There was no way I was going to turn it down,” he said about Trump asking him to serve as NASA chief last year. “I had no problem walking away from my other life" as a billionaire philanthropist and occasional record-breaking astronaut. "I had a huge debt to repay to the nation."
And what a way to repay it, taking us back to the Moon — and beyond.
Recommended: Mamdani’s War on New York Business Is a Double-Header
The New Space Race isn't today's only exciting news.
PJ Media VIP members get tons of exclusive goodies, including podcasts and video live chats with your favorite writers. You can support alternative conservative news and save 60% with promo code FIGHT.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member