President Trump on Thursday vowed to return American astronauts to the moon by 2028 and establish an outpost there through NASA’s Artemis space program.
Under Mr. Trump’s order, the National Space Council will be eliminated and its authority will be transferred to the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The National Space Council was created in 1989 to advise presidents on issues of space policy and exploration.
The president also detailed several sweeping goals for America’s space program. In addition to sending Americans back to the moon within three years, he also wants to establish a lunar outpost by 2030 and develop nuclear power in space, including readying nuclear reactors to launch by 2030.
It also calls for the development of next-generation missile-defense technology by 2028 as part of Mr. Trump’s Golden Dome project and creating the capability to detect and track threats to the U.S. from low-Earth orbit and space.
“Superiority in space is a measure of national vision and willpower, and the technologies Americans develop to achieve it contribute substantially to the Nation’s strength, security, and prosperity,” the order states. “The United States must therefore pursue a space policy that will extend the reach of human discovery, secure the Nation’s vital economic and security interests, unleash commercial development, and lay the foundation for a new space age.”
The last time humans landed on the moon was during NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in December 1972. It was the sixth and final human moon landing of the Apollo program, which began exploring the moon in 1969.
The directive states that the space initiatives could generate as much as $50 billion of additional investment in the American economy by 2028.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration proposed eliminating the current Artemis program structure and replacing it with private sector initiatives that would be more cost-effective for the federal government.
However, the proposal met a swift backlash from Republican and Democratic lawmakers who insisted the Artemis program was necessary if the U.S. wants to compete against China in the space race. Artemis supports jobs in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
Beijing has said it wants to send astronauts to the moon for the first time by the end of the decade.
Commercial space explorers have criticized the Artemis program. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who briefly led the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who was a billionaire tech executive before joining the agency, have insisted that private-sector programs will do a better and cheaper job returning Americans to the moon.
Artemis, which relies on Boeing Co.’s Space Launch System rocket and Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Orion crew capsule, is expected to cost $93 billion by 2025 and has only flown a single mission.
NASA has delayed the first Artemis moon landing several times, most recently announcing that it won’t take place until 2027.
Mr. Trump’s sweeping tax reform and immigration enforcement law, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, allocated nearly $10 billion to Artemis to help fund the program’s missions.
Earlier this month, Mr. Isaacman told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing that he believed the Artemis program is the fastest way to return to the moon.
