Over the moon: How the Trump-Musk feud helps the lunar mission

The alliance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk — to borrow a phrase from the space community — has undergone a rapid unscheduled disassembly.

Yet amid all the fireworks Thursday from the duo’s public meltdown, one area of the space world seems to have a brighter future: the moon mission.

Musk, the SpaceX founder and well-known Mars enthusiast, has argued against returning astronauts to the lunar surface. But the stunning forced exitof the billionaire's handpicked nominee for NASA chief and Musk’s massive rupture with the president have handed moon backers in Congress and industry an opening — and they’re seizing it.

“Elon was the main reason for the fork in the road for NASA's human exploration plans,” said Clayton Swope, a former congressional adviser on space. “With his exodus from D.C., there's a good chance NASA will refocus back to the moon with the plan: moon then Mars.”

A number of major space companies — just not SpaceX — are launching an ad campaign going big on the moon, according to two industry officials granted anonymity to discuss the effort. The move is the first sign of real pushback against the behemoth space company and its founder, who only days ago seemed to lock down government contracts every time he blinked.

A television ad funded by the companies, who do not go by an umbrella name, will appear on television in the coming days with a pitch clearly aimed at Trump. A narrator, underlaid by dramatic images of America’s Apollo missions, implores voters to call senators in support of the moon mission and “keep America first in space.”

A separate letter addressed to the Senate Commerce Committee, and obtained by POLITICO, backs investments in the moon, and is signed by a lengthy slate of prominent space companies — but not SpaceX.

As the feud between Trump and Musk escalated on Thursday evening, the Senate Commerce Committee unveiled a new reconciliation bill that would channel $10 billion to NASA. Much of it would go to the space agency’s effort to return to the moon through the Artemis program. The White House’s NASA budget had proposed major cuts to Artemis, including slashing a planned lunar space station and moon missions.

“Anybody who's following space will have noticed how deeply committed [the committee is] to getting back to the moon, particularly before the Chinese get there,” said a committee aide, who was granted anonymity to discuss the bill.

All of this is happening amid Musk’s very public fall from grace.

Trump, during the social media showdown with his former confidante, threatened to cancel Musk’s contracts with the government. The SpaceX founder responded by saying he would end the Dragon spacecraft contract, which is the U.S.’ only reliable way of accessing the International Space Station. (But he also suggested late Thursday night that he might not actually do so, and Trump played down the dispute in a POLITICO interview.)

The president had already abruptly pulled the NASA administrator nomination for Musk ally Jared Isaacman last week, just days ahead of his likely confirmation by the Senate. Isaacman, speaking on a podcast this week, linked his ouster to Musk’s provocative departure from the White House.

“I don't think the timing was much of a coincidence,” he said.

This all means Congress may now have a stronger hand in negotiations with the White House over the NASA budget, which was written before Musk’s break from Trump and heavily favors Mars.

The administration's budget proposes major cuts to spending for the moon in favor of nearly $1 billion for landing an astronaut on Mars. SpaceX, thanks to provisions in the bill, was likely to snag a lucrative contract to build the landing system for any red planet mission. That seems much less feasible now.

Senators from states with large NASA centers — such as Alabama and Louisiana — are particularly keen to latch on to moon funding.

Trump has voiced support for a Mars mission, meaning the idea may not have completely faded. But with Musk's implosion and the latest moon push, a return to the lunar surface is on firmer ground than it was just a week ago.

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