--- title: "NASA Eyes 2026 Mars Launch as Musk Pushes to Skip the Moon" description: "NASA has revealed that it's considering reprioritizing its goals to accelerate Elon Musk’s push to send humans to Mars." date: "2025-05-09" modified: "2025-05-09" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/nasa-mars-rockets-2026-elon-musk" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "Moon" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "artemis" - "elon musk" - "mars" - "moon" - "NASA" --- # NASA Eyes 2026 Mars Launch as Musk Pushes to Skip the Moon ![NASA has revealed that it's considering reprioritizing its goals to accelerate Elon Musk’s push to send humans to Mars.]() *\Image: SpaceX\* NASA has revealed that it's considering reprioritizing its goals to accelerate Elon Musk’s push to send humans to Mars. In a [statement to *Politico*](), NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens said the agency is "evaluating every opportunity, including launch windows in 2026 and 2028, to test technologies that will land humans on Mars." Last week, the Trump administration [released its proposed budget]() for next year, suggesting slashing the [space agency's science budget]() in half, while allocating $1 billion in "new investments for Mars-focused programs." Incoming NASA administrator Jared Isaacman — a billionaire fighter jet pilot-turned-SpaceX astronaut — has had to actively distance himself from Musk over a glaring potential conflict of interest. He's stated that the agency [could be "paralleling" efforts]() to return astronauts to the Moon as part of its Artemis program, and missions to Mars. SpaceX wasn’t named, but the subtext was clear: the president appears to be boosting one of his closest allies' interests in settling on the Red Planet. SpaceX has been working on a massive launch vehicle, called [Starship]() and was [awarded approval for 25 launches per year]() by the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday. In early April, NASA [officially added]() the enormous rocket to its roster, despite the vehicle never having completed a single (entirely) successful test flight. Musk has repeatedly vowed to send a Starship to Mars as soon as 2026, a year when Earth and Mars' orbits align to make the trip most convenient. But whether he can meet that extremely ambitious deadline remains to be seen. His space company's latest two Starship launches [have ended in enormous explosions](), showering countless pieces of space junk down over the Caribbean. A doubling down on a Musk-led mission to Mars could anger lawmakers, who have repeatedly advocated for NASA's existing Artemis program. As such, Trump's controversial budget proposal could meet considerable resistance during the upcoming congressional review. Musk has made his stance on the matter clear, [accusing]() NASA's Artemis program of being "extremely inefficient as it is a jobs-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program," calling for shutting it down. "We're going straight to Mars," he [tweeted]() earlier this year, calling the Moon a "distraction." In its budget proposal, the Trump administration suggested canceling NASA's "grossly expensive and delayed" Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule" after just two crewed launches. Which rocket will pick up the slack after that remains unclear. Will it be SpaceX's Starship — or Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, which [successfully reached orbit]() on its first test flight in January? Considering Musk's tremendous amount of influence in the White House — and a sizable headstart — it's far more likely to be the former. But getting the vehicle ready for a journey to the Red Planet in roughly a year and a half, however, could prove extremely difficult. **More on Mars:** *[Incoming Head of NASA Defies Elon Musk on Order to Abandon Moon Program]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()