‘We are going straight to Mars’: Musk pledges to reset US space exploration ambitions

Although SpaceX founder Elon Musk is known for outspokenness and controversial comments on his social media site X, … he has rarely criticized NASA or its overall goal to return humans to the moon through the Artemis program. Rather, Musk, who has long preferred Mars as a destination for humans, has more or less been a team player when it comes to the space agency’s lunar-focused plans.

But privately, Musk has been critical of NASA’s plans, suggesting that the Artemis Program has been moving too slowly and is too reliant on contractors who seek cost-plus government contracts and are less interested in delivering results.

[Over the end of December], Musk has begun airing some of these private thoughts publicly. [M]usk wrote on X, “The Artemis architecture is extremely inefficient, as it is a jobs-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program. Something entirely new is needed.”

Then, [he added]: “No, we’re going straight to Mars. The moon is a distraction.”

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