NASA has been exploring similar long-range goals, but its nearer-term priority has shifted back to the Moon.
The new Senate spending package—nicknamed the “Big Beautiful Bill”—directs $10 billion toward Artemis. That initiative will use NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years and lay groundwork for a permanent American presence by the late 2020s.
SpaceX and Artemis represent sharply different engineering philosophies:
- SpaceX: Emphasizes reusable rockets to lower launch costs.
- SLS/Artemis: Relies on an expendable, single-use booster—an approach Musk calls costly and outdated.
Musk has described SLS as an “extremely inefficient, jobs-maximizing program” and argued that focusing on the Moon is “a distraction” from the ultimate aim of reaching Mars.