Several key NASA leaders involved in the space agency’s efforts to land Americans on the moon for the first time since the Apollo era have resigned this week.
NASA in a Wednesday news release revealed that associate administrator Jim Free—a major figure in the Artemis moon mission program and a vocal defender of the agency’s lunar exploration efforts—will step down, effective Saturday. The Artemis III lunar landing is tentatively scheduled for mid-2027.
“It has been an honor to serve NASA and walk alongside the workforce that tackles the most difficult engineering challenges, pursues new scientific knowledge in our universe and beyond, develops technologies for future exploration endeavors, all while prioritizing safety every day for people on the ground, in the air, and in space,” Free said in a statement.
Free, who served more than three decades at NASA, previously oversaw the Artemis I mission as associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. He was also “responsible for the development of NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture, defining and managing the systems development for NASA’s Artemis missions, and planning for NASA’s integrated deep space exploration approach,” per his biography on NASA’s website.
Free was serving as senior adviser to Janet Petro, whom the White House in January named acting administrator following the departure of her predecessor, Bill Nelson, as well as deputy administrator Pam Melroy.
“Throughout his career, Jim has been the ultimate servant leader—always putting the mission and the people of NASA first,” Petro said in Wednesday’s news release. “A remarkable engineer and a decisive leader, he combines deep technical expertise with an unwavering commitment to this agency’s mission.”
In addition, internal NASA communications on Tuesday announced the retirements of the chiefs of procurement, finance, and information at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Marshall is the build site for many key Artemis technologies, including components for the Orion capsule and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
The resignations add to the uncertainty around Artemis, which has faced scrutiny due to setbacks and cost overruns. President Donald Trump in his inaugural address notably did not mention the moon but did vow to “plant the Stars and Stripes on Mars,” a comment that raised questions about the administration’s plans for the moon program.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, whose role in the administration is unclear due to conflicting statements from the White House, has called the moon a “distraction” and said, “we’re going straight to Mars.” On Thursday, Musk seemingly called for the International Space Station to be deorbited—a task NASA assigned SpaceX in June under a contract worth up to $843 million—in order to prioritize the Red Planet.
“It is time to begin preparations for deorbiting the @Space_Station,” Musk said in a post on X. “It has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility. Let’s go to Mars.”
SpaceX is working under a multibillion-dollar contract with NASA to build the spacecraft that will land the Artemis III astronauts on the moon, a variant of its massive Starship rocket.
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