WASHINGTON, D.C. – Serial entrepreneur Elon Musk has pledged to launch a mission to Mars by the end of next year and, further, to guarantee the mission’s success by going along himself.
Musk, who has made headlines recently as the erstwhile head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is the owner of a handful of enterprises, including the carmarker Tesla and the company SpaceX, which is launching the Mars mission. Initial plans were that the first mission would carry Optimus, a humanoid robot made by Tesla, and that it would be another three to five years before a spaceship carrying humans would embark for the red planet. But Musk, impatient for change as always, said that he would finish up his work at DOGE by the end of 2026, in time to jump onboard the SpaceX ship and accompany Otpimus on the multi-month journey.
“It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past,” Musk said. “And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.”
The journey of about 140 million miles to Mars is expected to take no more than six months, and SpaceX has made a name for itself with reusable spacecraft, so Musk intends to return by the end of 2027. Whether Optimus returns remains to be seen.
SpaceX made waves in 2018 by launching a Tesla Roadster into Earth orbit. (You can still find out where that car is right now.)
Democratic Party Chairman Ken Martin issued a statement, applauding Musk for taking such an initiative. “It will be good to have him out of here for a while,” Martin said.
