U.S. President Issues Executive Order Targeting Human Return to the Moon by 2028

Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump.

U,S. President Donald Trump has formalised the goal of returning humans to the Moon by 2028 and strengthening the defence of space against potential weapon threats through a wide-ranging executive order issued on Thursday, marking the first major space policy initiative of his second term.

The order was issued just hours after billionaire private astronaut and former SpaceX customer Jared Isaacman was sworn in as NASA’s 15th administrator. It also reorganises national space policy coordination under Trump’s chief science adviser, Michael Kratsios.

Titled “Ensuring American Space Superiority,” the executive order calls on the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies to develop a comprehensive space security strategy. It urges greater efficiency among private contractors and seeks demonstrations of missile defence technologies under Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” programme.

The order appeared to abolish the National Space Council, the White House’s top space policy coordination body, which Trump revived during his first term and has considered disbanding this year. However, a senior administration official said the council would not be cancelled, indicating it would continue under the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy with a revised structure in which the president, rather than the vice president, would serve as chair.

The renewed ambition to land astronauts on the Moon by the end of Trump’s second term echoes a 2019 directive during his first presidency that set a 2024 target—widely viewed by industry experts as unrealistic. Delays in the development and testing of NASA’s Space Launch System and SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft later pushed the timeline back. Under former president Barack Obama, NASA had already set 2028 as a realistic target.

A crewed Moon landing in 2028 would mark the first of several missions under NASA’s Artemis programme, which aims to establish a sustained human presence on the lunar surface. The United States is competing with China, which plans its first crewed Moon landing by 2030.

The executive order also calls for the “establishment of initial elements of a permanent lunar outpost by 2030,” reinforcing NASA’s existing plans to develop long-term lunar bases, potentially powered by nuclear energy.

At the outset of his second term, Trump frequently spoke of prioritising missions to Mars, a long-standing goal of SpaceX founder Elon Musk, a major political donor who briefly served as a close adviser and government efficiency coordinator. However, lawmakers in Congress have since pushed to refocus NASA’s efforts on the Moon, urging Isaacman to maintain the Artemis programme, into which billions of dollars have already been invested.

As part of a broader government efficiency drive led by Musk, the White House has reduced NASA’s workforce by around 20 per cent and proposed cutting the agency’s 2026 budget by approximately 25 per cent from its typical $25 billion allocation. The proposed reductions threaten dozens of space science programmes that many scientists and officials regard as critical.

Isaacman, who is due to deliver his first address to NASA employees on Friday, has said he believes the agency should pursue both lunar and Martian exploration, while prioritising a return to the Moon in order to stay ahead of China.

The feasibility of the 2028 Moon landing target depends heavily on progress in developing SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander, which has faced criticism from NASA’s former acting administrator over the pace of its development.

Source: Reuters



PUKMEDIA