NASA chief declares America 'absolutely back' in space race, says US will beat China to the moon

A top NASA official declared America is "absolutely back" in the space race, as the U.S. races to beat China to the moon under an aggressive Trump push to build a lunar base and eventually plant Old Glory on Mars.

"We are absolutely on an achievable path now," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Saturday.

"There is no question... President Trump gave us the Artemis program that's currently underway right now during his first term... he gave us the resources to actually execute on an achievable plan through the Working Family Tax Cut Act and the mandate not just to go back to the moon with the national space policy, but to go back, to stay, to build the moon base," he added.

Isaacman told "Saturday in America" host Kayleigh McEnany that the president has repeatedly told him that NASA should "figure out what we need to do to go to Mars."

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"That's exactly why you build the moon base to master the skills that we can send American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on Mars someday," he added.

Isaacman said the U.S. is now on a clear trajectory to return astronauts to the lunar surface and stay there.

"We are getting underway building the moon base essentially right now," he said, noting that Americans will be able to follow along as early as 2027, when NASA begins a near-monthly cadence of robotic missions to the moon’s South Pole.

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Those missions will lay the groundwork for a sustained American presence beyond Earth, as NASA also builds toward its long-term goal of sending astronauts to Mars.

"[We're going to be] test[ing] out mobility, crewed mobility, uncrewed mobility, power, navigation and the In-Situ resource manufacturing, which is going be paramount for future missions to Mars."

The aggressive timeline comes as China has signaled ambitions to land astronauts on the moon by 2030, setting up a new space race between the world’s two superpowers.

Fox News' Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.