US President Donald Trump enshrined the US goal to put humans back on the moon by 2028 and defend space from weapon threats in a sweeping executive order issued on Thursday, the first major space policy move of his administration's second term.
The order, issued hours after billionaire private astronaut and former SpaceX customer Jared Isaacman was sworn in as NASA's 15th administrator, also reorganized national space policy coordination under Trump's chief science adviser, Michael Kratsios.
Titled "ENSURING AMERICAN SPACE SUPERIORITY," the order calls on the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies to create a space security strategy, urges efficiency among private contractors, and seeks demonstrations of missile-defense technologies under Trump's Golden Dome program.
It appeared to cancel the White House's top space policy-coordinating body, the National Space Council, a panel of cabinet members that the president revived during his first term and has considered axing this year.
But an administration official said it would not be canceled and suggested it would live on under the White House's Office of Technology Policy with a different structure in which the president, rather than the vice president, would be chairman.
The goal to land humans on the moon by the end of Trump's second term in 2028 bears resemblance to the president's 2019 directive in his first term to make a lunar return by 2024, putting the moon at the center of US space exploration policy with a timeline many in the industry regarded as unrealistic.
Development and testing delays for NASA’s Space Launch System and SpaceX’s Starship have gradually pushed back the landing target date.
NASA's goal had been 2028 under former president Barack Obama.
Lunar outpost by 2030
A 2028 astronaut moon landing would be the first of many planned under NASA's Artemis effort to build a long-term presence on the lunar surface. The US is in competition with China, which is targeting 2030 for its first crewed moon landing.
The order on Thursday called for "establishment of initial elements of a permanent lunar outpost by 2030," reinforcing NASA's existing goal of developing long-term bases powered by nuclear power.
At the start of his second term, Trump had repeatedly talked about sending missions to Mars, and Elon Musk, a major donor who has made sending humans to the Red Planet a priority for his company, SpaceX, served as a close adviser and powerful government efficiency czar.
But lawmakers in Congress this year have slowly put the moon back in focus, pressuring then-NASA nominee Isaacman to stick with the agency's moon program on which billions of dollars have been spent.
The White House, in a government efficiency push led by Musk, slashed NASA's workforce by 20% and has sought to cut the agency's 2026 budget by roughly 25% from its usual $25 billion, imperiling dozens of space-science programs that scientists and some officials regard as priorities.
Isaacman, who plans to give his first agency-wide address to NASA employees on Friday, has said he believes the space agency should try to target both the moon and Mars simultaneously while prioritizing a lunar return in order to beat China.
The 2028 moon-landing target depends heavily on the development progress of SpaceX's giant Starship lander, which NASA's former acting administrator has criticized for moving too slowly.