Are Trump and Musk giving up on Mars? Why NASA and SpaceX may be moving on

May 9, 2026

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NASA’s Perseverance rover, which has been roaming Mars for more than five years, captured this image of a hill inside Jezero Crater on April 29, 2021.NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS

Space

Exploring Mars used to be a top priority for NASA and SpaceX. But a dramatic shift is underway as the administration tries to cut science spending and return to the moon.

May 9, 2026, 8:08 AM EDT

For decades, Mars has been a centerpiece of the United States’ space exploration agenda. Barack Obama set a goal while in office to land astronauts there by the 2030s. President Donald Trump promised in his inauguration speech last year to “pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars.”