Trump's NASA Pick Just Dropped a Bombshell: SpaceX Leading Mars Push Next Year

Jared Isaacman—just nominated by Trump to run NASA—just confirmed a leaked 62-page “Project Athena” blueprint that’s basically rewriting the space agency’s playbook. And yeah, SpaceX is front and center.

The plan’s wild: unmanned Mars mission as soon as next year, with Elon Musk’s company leading the charge. But here’s where it gets spicy—Isaacman wants to gut NASA’s traditional structure, dump Boeing’s expensive Space Launch System, and shift everything toward cheaper private contractors like Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, and Axiom Space.

The actual moves:

• Mars base prototype via SpaceX (Project Olympus)
• Swap Boeing’s SLS for Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket
• Pour resources into nuclear propulsion tech
• Potentially restructure or downsize NASA centers in Florida, Maryland, and Virginia
• Let commercial companies run Kennedy Space Center launch sites

Why this matters: Isaacman admitted the plan is still a “living document,” but it signals where Trump 2.0 wants to take American space ambitions—lean, private-sector-heavy, and moving fast. Congress has already pushed back before by funding NASA beyond Trump’s requests, so expect a political tug-of-war.

Elon’s been dreaming about Mars colonies for years. This might actually be the moment where federal money backs that dream. Or it could all get tangled up in budget fights. Either way, the space industry just got a lot more interesting.