Trump says we're going to Mars. He may be making it harder to get there. President Donald Trump says we’re going to Mars, but don’t start packing your bags just yet. There are a lot of reasons to doubt that his plans will get us to the Red Planet, and he may even put us further behind schedule.

Arrival in early-to-mid December 2028 would place the spacecraft at Mars during northern hemisphere spring, providing favorable conditions for solar power and avoiding dust storm seasons.

The rest of the 400 landings have come courtesy of SpaceX's powerful Falcon Heavy, whose first stage consists of three modified Falcon 9 boosters. (The Heavy can notch three landings on a single mission, but it has flown just 11 times to date.)

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made light of Starship's fiery end. "Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!" he said on X.

The president’s Inaugural Address linked landing on the Red Planet with Manifest Destiny, but left many of the specifics unclear.

SpaceX has delivered a new animated look at the launch of Starship to Mars. See the launch, Super Heavy booster re-entry and 'chopsticks' capture, on-orbit fueling and journey to the surface of the Red Planet.

The SpaceX Starship - developed by Elon Musk's aerospace company SpaceX - blasted off from Texas on Thursday for its seventh test flight, but it encountered difficulties

As of 2023, though, Beck hadn't yet decided what Rocket Lab's answer to Starlink might be, or what new business the company would enter into to provide profits superior to what can be earned simply launching payloads to space. Or at least he wasn't prepared to say this publicly. But in 2025, he may have finally made his decision.

Elon Musk’s company managed 138 successful orbital launches in 2024 - more than 40 more than the year before. SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell has said that the firm is aiming for even more launches this year, with a good chunk of them being Starship flight tests.

EntrepreneurShares LLC COO Eva Ados explains why President Trump and Elon Musk could achieve their Mars goal on 'Making Money.'

In his prepared remarks, Trump, a longtime backer of U.S.-led space exploration and exploitation, singled out Mars and left the moon hanging.