The race to Mars has become a political football, with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, claiming a Kamala Harris presidency would “destroy the Mars programme and doom humanity,” Sky News reports.
Musk has been vocal about his frustrations with US government bureaucracy, claiming it is “smothering” the Starship program. He predicts that unmanned Starships could land on Mars within two years, with crewed missions following by 2028.
His ambitious vision includes establishing a self-sustaining colony on Mars within the next 20 years. However, he believes a Harris administration would hinder these ambitions with excessive regulations.
“We will never reach Mars if Kamala wins,” Musk stated earlier this month, echoing Trump’s own rhetoric.
Trump has promised to reignite the Mars mission if elected.
While Trump’s administration created Space Force and pushed NASA to return to the moon, Harris, as chair of the National Space Council since 2021, has been a space advocate herself. She has been praised for spearheading the Artemis Accords, an international agreement that promotes peaceful exploration of space.
Despite SpaceX’s groundbreaking achievements, including its role in transporting astronauts to the International Space Station and facilitating the first private spacewalk, Musk maintains that US bureaucracy is stifling progress.
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