Pinching pennies and landing a crew of astronauts on the Moon before a geopolitical rivalry aren’t two endeavors that go hand-in-hand. The Trump administration released NASA’s proposed 2026 discretionary budget last week. The federal space agency would see a $6 billion cut if implemented as written, roughly a 24% decrease compared to 2025. However, the White House is confusingly still committed to beating China to the lunar surface despite shuttering all the projects working towards that goal.
The proposed 2026 budget has a 10% increase for human space exploration, but the $7 billion allocated won’t be used for the significant pieces of technology developed for the Artemis program. The Space Launch System rocket and the accompanying Orion capsule spacecraft have been cancelled. Gateway, the space station slated to be built in lunar orbit, has also been cancelled. Frustratingly, the first Gateway module has already been built in Italy and arrived at Kennedy Space Center in Florida last month.
Adding to the wasted module, SLS and Orion only flew once for the uncrewed Artemis I mission in November 2022. The Trump administration has effectively flushed $47.5 billion down the toilet, according to Time. The stiffest complaints thrown at Artemis have been the budget overruns and development delays. These cancellations would only worsen the situation as NASA is forced to return to square one.
SpaceX could be contracted to launch Artemis missions
With the current projects canned and a human spaceflight budget increase, the Trump administration is seemingly setting the stage to award a massive contract to a private space company. The contractor would have to develop a commercial platform to deliver NASA’s Artemis astronauts to the Moon. Not to mention, the contractor is expected to beat China. The Chinese program’s plans to land two taikonauts on the lunar surface by 2030, three years after the Artemis III landing, seemed conservative. Now, the emerging East Asian space power could pass the United States in this new space race.
It’s no secret that Elon Musk’s SpaceX would be the favorite to win the contract. It’s also no secret that the government-gutting CEO detests the effort to return to the Moon and the Artemis program. As always, Musk claimed he could do it faster and cheaper. Let’s ignore that delays with Starship’s lunar lander are partly why Artemis has been pushed back before. Any crewed lunar exploration program is a protracted and expensive effort that requires steadfast leadership, the antithesis of the Trump White House. I wish the best to the astronauts who are asked to climb aboard a Moon-bound starship. You’re gonna need it.