President Donald Trump‘s State Of The Union address on Tuesday failed to mention NASA’s Artemis Mission to the Moon, which could cast doubt over its progress and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk‘s lunar ambitions.
Space Force Is My Baby
“Space Force is my baby,” Trump said, adding that the agency was becoming increasingly important. Trump omitted mentioning NASA, as well as the Artemis mission, saying that America had lifted “humanity into the skies on the wings of aluminum and steel.”
He also added that Americans had also “launched mankind into the stars on rockets powered by sheer American will and unyielding American pride.” However, that was the extent of space being mentioned in the address.
Questions Emerge
With Trump failing to mention the Artemis mission, questions could emerge about the mission’s progress. According to an official statement by NASA on February 22nd, the agency was beginning to roll back the rocket from the launch pad on Kennedy Space Center in Florida after NASA engineers observed “interrupted flow of helium to the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage.”
The agency had targeted an early March launch for a Lunar flyby, before sending a crewed spacecraft to the lunar surface. The flyby mission also aimed to test systems and use the data to expedite the planned lunar landing.
Jared Isaacman’s Commitment, SpaceX’s Lunar Pivot
Meanwhile, NASA Administrator and former Shift4 Payments Inc. (NASDAQ:FOUR) CEO Jared Isaacman, who is also a close ally to Musk, said that the agency aims to set up a moonbase and “build rovers capable of mining helium-3 on the moon.” He also said that NASA’s Artemis II mission was the first “mission on that campaign.”
On the other hand, Musk’s SpaceX had earlier outlined its capabilities and shared how the company’s Starship rocket was the ideal vehicle to realize America’s Mars and Lunar goals.
SpaceX also shifted away from Mars and pivoted to focus on developing technology that would help reach the lunar surface, as the company targets a possible uncrewed landing on the Moon by 2027.
What Comes Next?
The rollback of the spacecraft has pushed the launch reportedly to April 1 at the latest, but no mention of the program during Trump’s address could come as a surprise since Artemis II’s crew — Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch from NASA, as well as mission specialist Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency, were invited to the address.
With Trump failing to mention the Artemis program, despite inviting the crew, could it be that the mission is facing challenges and possible delays? We don’t know, but NASA’s latest statement suggests the launch vehicle will be rolled back off the platform on Wednesday at around 9 AM Eastern Time.
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