The New Space Race: NASA, Artemis, and the Race to the Moon
Episode publishedPodcast: The a16z ShowThe a16z Show
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We are gonna get back into the habit of launching moon rockets in months, not years.
Why is it so important for us to go back to the moon?
This was a promise that was made and a promise we need to keep. When we return to the moon, America will not look down on the prime lunar real estate while our rivals occupy it. NASA astronauts will be on the surface building president Trump's moon base, and we will realize the scientific, economic, and national security potential surface operations provide. A lot of people, when I came to this job, was like, industry's not gonna let you do what you wanna do, and the politicians aren't gonna let you do what you wanna do. But you know what? They all understand the difference between America win
What it take to win a new space race? For decades, space exploration was defined by a single moment, landing on the moon. But today, the challenge is different. It's not just about getting there. It's about building the systems, infrastructure, and cadence to return and stay. NASA now faces a new kind of competition, one that is measured not in decades, but in years or even months. That shift is forcing a rethink of everything from how missions are built to how capital and talent are deployed. The question is not whether we can return to the moon, but whether we can do it fast enough. Recorded
It's great to be here with so many entrepreneurs, operators, investors, and policymakers who are helping us build the next golden age of space exploration. I love being around the people who not only look up and imagine what is possible but possess the experiences and the will to bring ideas into reality. There is no organization I can tell you that appreciates that kind of determination more than NASA. On that note, in the weeks ahead, America will send the brave Artemis two astronauts potentially farther into space than any humans have ever traveled in generations flying around the moon on a
Hello, everybody. Administrator Isaacman, thank you for joining me here on stage. So much you just covered at the podium that I wanna dig into. But first I have to start with this idea of NASA force and this idea of bringing talent into NASA and making NASA great again, cool again.
Yeah. I I mean, people ask me, what was your biggest surprise since taking the job? And I'd say a lot of things were actually as expected. I had an opportunity to prepare for it more than once. But what I'd say was what stands out, having visited every one of the centers on this really epic roadshow is just, you know, what a large portion of our core competencies that have either been lost outright over the years or we've outsourced. And then, you know, you take a look at a a program like America's return to the moon with Artemis and you got five prime contractors, hundreds of subcontractors a
So move more quickly. And I would imagine it sounds like also cutting costs in the process. Bringing this in house, more of this in house.
Yeah. I mean, I I when I went to every one of the centers and started talking to the workforce and said, okay. So you work in mission control. You're you're one of our contractors. I get we we treat everybody kinda the same. Do you wanna be a civil servant? I mean, there's certain benefits associated with it. And they're like, I've wanted to work for NASA since I was a kid. They get paid exactly the same, but you have, you know, tech companies that put a well, staffing companies put a 40% gross margin on it. So the the answer is about 1,400,000,000 a year is lost in science and discovery becau
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