NASA’s new chief Jared Isaacman faces his first major test this week with the launch of Artemis, a key milestone in the race to defeat China and return Americans to the Moon.
The stakes have never been higher. Success would earn Isaacman the political capital to pursue his ambitious vision for expanding American spaceflight — and reinvigorate an agency still reeling from a year of internal turmoil.
Isaacman, who has been leading NASA for only three months, is overseeing the agency’s first crewed launch to the Moon in more than 50 years. Artemis II — a nearly 3,000-ton rocket powered by 8.8 million pounds of thrust — is expected to depart Wednesday off the Florida coast to carry four astronauts around the moon and back, a key step toward future lunar landings.
The effort comes as thousands of employees fled the agency last year and the White House proposed deep cuts to NASA’s budget. Isaacman is determined to change this narrative and meet President Donald Trump’s ambitious deadline to land American astronauts on the Moon.
“The Artemis program picks up where Apollo left off,” Isaacman told POLITICO’s Dasha Burns in an interview. The Conversation Podcast. “Not to return to the moon, plant the flag and retrieve the rocks, but to create a permanent presence, to create a moon base so that we can realize the scientific and economic value of being on the moon’s surface.”
Pressure is coming from above. The day Isaacman took the oath of office at the White House issued a directive It outlines Trump’s ambitions in space, which include landing on the Moon by 2028 and building a permanent lunar outpost.
“During President Trump’s first term, the Artemis program was formally established to return humanity to the Moon,” White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said in a statement. “This effort will strengthen U.S. leadership in space, advance scientific discoveries, and serve as a proving ground for missions to Mars.”
The launch comes at a time when NASA – and America – desperately needs a win.
“If we can do that after what the agency went through in 2025, that’s a major accomplishment,” said one congressional staffer, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic. “Isaacman is the quarterback. If everything goes well, he will get a lot of credit. If everything doesn’t go well, he will get a lot of blame for the outcome caused by institutional collapse.”
The Boeing-built Space Launch System rocket Artemis II will carry astronauts into space. They will orbit the moon aboard Lockheed Martin’s Orion capsule, which will separate from a larger rocket system. Once Orion has traveled to the far side of the moon, it will return home, reaching a blazing speed of 25,000 mph when it hits Earth’s atmosphere for the first time – a 10-day roundtrip.
Technology is not cheap. The entire Artemis program is estimated to cost approximately $100 billion, and the SLS rocket has drawn criticism for its cost overruns and long delays since its first launch in 2022.
Since taking command of NASA, Isaacman reorganized the program to fly the rocket more often, and announced plans for another Artemis test flight next year. The lunar landing would ideally take place in 2028.
Concerns about the slow pace of SLS launches and cost overruns are “fair criticism,” Isaacman said. That’s why NASA is taking measures to ramp up production and take an active role in getting these programs back on track.
He said, “We are not going to sit idly by as the schedule goes up and the budget goes up at the expense of the American people and all the people who only NASA can make headlines for.”
The centerpiece of Isaacman’s new vision for the agency is moon base. The lunar outpost is expected to cost $30 billion over the next decade – about $3 billion per year.
But their goals may collide with the realities of the administration. The White House is finalizing its 2027 budget request for NASA, which is expected to be released on Friday. The Trump administration wanted to cut NASA’s budget by 25 percent last year. Congress rejected the request with this year’s appropriations law, allocations $24.4 billion for the agency.
It won’t be easy to fit all of NASA’s ambitions into its budget. But if Artemis is successful, it would give the agency “much more credibility,” the representative said. mike haridopoulos(R-Fla.), Chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics.
“That’s why it’s so important that Artemis II is successful,” he said. “If it is successful, the people we will meet (and) we will, of course, gain even more confidence in both NASA and its new administrator.”
NASA’s plan to speed up its moon program also aims to counter China, a rising power in space. Beijing aims to land on the Moon and have a permanent outpost in 2030 – setting up tough competition with the US
Winning that race is paramount, Isaacman said, and will have a serious impact on America’s place in the world order.
“There’s not a person alive right now who hasn’t grown up in America, where the United States is the preeminent leader, the world superpower,” he said. “And, there’s a real possibility that this could change in the coming years.”
NASA officials have said Artemis II is scheduled to launch on Wednesday, but there is always a possibility that the launch could be delayed due to technical issues or weather conditions. This can happen any day till April 6.
After this the next launch window will open on 30 April.
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