(Photo by Kevin Dietsch / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
Washington: NASA will prioritize sending astronauts to Mars, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the US space agency said Wednesday, putting in doubt a long-planned return to the Moon.
"We will prioritize sending American astronauts to Mars, and along the way, we will inevitably have the capabilities to return to the Moon and determine the scientific, economic and national security benefits for maintaining a presence on the lunar surface," businessman Jared Isaacman told the Senate committee overseeing his nomination.
Though NASA's "Artemis" Moon mission was announced in Trump's first term, he has openly mused about bypassing the Moon and heading straight to Mars.
The notion has gained traction as Elon Musk, the world's richest person and SpaceX chief, becomes a key Trump ally and advisor.
Musk has long eyed a human mission to Mars and founded his successful space company with the idea of making humanity a multiplanetary species.
Isaacman, an e-payments billionaire, is a close Musk ally who has flown to space twice with SpaceX as a private astronaut.
Isaacman has also reportedly intervened at the last moment to prevent NASA from suffering the deep cuts made at other agencies by Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
