As Elon Musk's initiatives to streamline government spending see efforts to abolish various Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, his aerospace company, SpaceX, embarks on a groundbreaking mission with NASA. The partnership promises to make history by sending the first woman and person of color to the moon under the Artemis program.
In 2021, NASA entered into a $2.9 billion agreement with SpaceX to create a spacecraft for sustained lunar exploration. This collaboration is pivotal to NASA's Artemis program, an initiative focused on returning humans to the moon and paving the way for Mars expeditions. One of its landmark objectives is to ensure that the next lunar landing includes the first woman and person of color to step onto the moon's surface.
The selected crew for this mission, announced in 2023, includes distinguished individuals like Navy Capt. Victor Glover, who has earned accolades as a Black Engineer of the Year, and Christina Koch, who holds the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman. Their participation signifies a potential milestone in NASA's history and addresses representation in space exploration.
Glover's inclusion in the mission highlights the importance of reflecting diversity in space crews, mirroring the composition of NASA's offices. For a woman and a Black astronaut to be part of the mission is crucial because it represents our team, Glover remarked in a 2024 interview.
While SpaceX's involvement continues to advance, Musk's leadership as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) aligns with President Donald Trump's policies aimed at minimizing governmental size and spending. Musk claims that the department has already cut billions from federal DEI programs. Furthermore, agencies have received directives to eliminate DEI-related content from their environments, such as bulletin boards and restroom signs, to align with executive orders nullifying DEI initiatives.
Despite the internal movements of government directives, SpaceX's contributions remain significant. Since its initial announcement in 2021, NASA has furthered its collaborations with SpaceX, bringing the total contractual commitment to $4.4 billion. The aerospace company has amassed over $18 billion in federal contracts over the past decade, with NASA accounting for the majority.
As part of compliance with the executive orders issued by Trump, NASA recently announced modifications to its existing programs, which include ending the Inclusion Plan Pilot Study and removing DEI-related mandates. Nevertheless, the extent to which these changes might impact NASA's contractors like SpaceX remains uncertain.
The Artemis initiative traces its roots to a directive from Trump during his first term in 2017. It aims to resurrect human presence on the lunar surface following the decades-long hiatus since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, while also keeping an eye on Mars. As NASA and SpaceX move towards these celestial goals, the intertwining of innovation, representation, and policy reforms continues to shape the future landscape of space exploration.