On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, Brent Justice, a rocket scientist and former NASA employee, joins Western Correspondent Tristan Justice to discuss the United States’s recent space developments, the future of space exploration, and if humans will ever get a chance to go to Mars.
Brent said the Chinese are applying pressure on U.S. space missions.
“[China] is doing things that we’re not. We’ve not had that type of foreign pressure in the past so maybe that will … expedite the human landing system or NASA Artemis,” he said. “So I think Congress is seeing that and it’s causing them to, you know, try to expedite these bills.”
While Mars is the goal, Brent said that exploring more of the moon is the first step.
“The moon is easier, which I think will yield more immediate results,” Brent explained. “If we try to go straight to Mars. I think it might take us longer than we anticipate and I think we might also encounter more failure than we would like to see if we go to the moon,” he said.
“I think we can do it quickly. I think we can do it successfully. And I think when we do accomplish that feat, it will bring results and results bring funding. So, if we can’t fund the mission to Mars now, maybe getting to the moon will provide the impetus and the inspiration to fund that mission to Mars to take that next step,” he said.
Listen here: