NASA Announces Manned Mission to Mars

Sean Duffy, Acting Administrator of NASA and U.S. Secretary of Transportation, has announced that a manned mission to Mars is planned for the early 2030s.

In the coming years, NASA also intends to send the first cargo shipments to the Moon, laying the groundwork for future Mars exploration. According to Duffy, delivering supplies to the Moon is essential for building a base camp, from which humanity will eventually launch missions to the Red Planet.

Duffy clarified that next year, a crew of four astronauts will perform a lunar flyby, followed by a landing on the Moon, where they will remain for 8 to 12 days — a significant leap from the current record of just three days on the lunar surface.

The U.S. plans to land humans on Mars as early as the early 2030s, with the round-trip mission expected to take over eight months. In parallel, NASA is beginning development of a nuclear reactor to be installed on the Moon. Additionally, the agency intends to replace the International Space Station (ISS) with commercial space platforms by 2030.

Meanwhile, SpaceX founder Elon Musk has also announced plans to send a Starship spacecraft to Mars in 2026. If successful, this would open the door to a potential crewed landing by 2029 — although many experts believe a more realistic timeline is 2031.

Previously, Musk had proposed businessman and astronaut Jared Isaacman as a candidate for NASA Administrator. While former President Donald Trump supported the nomination at one point, he ultimately appointed Sean Duffy as acting administrator following tensions with Musk.