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Trump’s unconventional NASA pick signals Mars intentions in confirmation hearing [[https://kra31att.cc|kra30at]]

President Donald Trump’s pick to run NASA, Jared Isaacman, made waves Wednesday by signaling his intention to create a new focus on Mars exploration.

A confirmation hearing for Isaacman — the billionaire CEO of payments platform company Shift4 who has twice paid to fly aboard SpaceX capsules — kicked off before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation at 10 a.m. ET. The committee is not expected to vote on Isaacman’s confirmation until after lawmakers reconvene from a two-week break that ends April 28.

During the hearing, Isaacman faced wide-ranging questions about how NASA’s priorities might change under his leadership.

For months, the space agency and its commercial and international partners have faced uncertainty about how the Trump administration may seek to realign NASA’s missions to focus on Mars, rather than the moon.

If such a shift plays out, it could lead to changes for NASA’s Artemis program, which was announced during Trump’s first term and marked a renewed focus on lunar exploration. The Artemis I mission, for example, sent a crew-worthy spacecraft on a test flight around the moon in 2022. Artemis ultimately aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface and eventually create a permanent human settlement on the moon.

Notably, however, Mars has long been the destination of choice touted by Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX who over the past year has become a close confidant of Trump and invested at least $260 million in his presidential campaign.

Currently, NASA does not have any concrete plans to send humans to the red planet, though the agency has routinely said it views lunar exploration as an important precursor to Mars missions.
However, Isaacman told the committee he will “prioritize sending American astronauts to Mars.”

“Along the way, we will inevitably have the capabilities to return to the Moon and determine the scientific, economic, and national security benefits of maintaining a presence on the lunar surface,” according to Isaacman’s prepared opening statement.

Resumé af ændrigner