One of SpaceX’s top employees
said in a conference this week that SpaceX will likely make it to Mars before the NASA Artemis mission does.
The rockets can carry people
and payloads, and Shotwell said during her interview that payloads will get to the Red Planet in five years or so, followed shortly by humans.
Although SpaceX hasn’t made it
to the Moon with humans just yet, they have been pulling off semi-successful tourist trips to the ISS, so progress certainly is possible.
What’s a little strange about
Shotwell’s estimated date humans will arrive on Mars is that it’s far in advance of what NASA had in mind with its Artemis mission
Artemis mission is taking
a Moon-to-Mars approach. NASA estimates Artemis will send a crewed mission to Mars in 2040
SpaceX could beat NASA
from behind, or fall into the same engineering traps NASA is spending so much money and time on.
But SpaceX provides tons
of tech and equipment to NASA, so any decision SpaceX inevitably affects both, and vice versa