CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's new administrator is big on tackling climate and diversifying the agency's workforce, but hedging on whether the U.S. can put astronauts on the moon by 2024.


His underlying vision for NASA: “to explore the heavens with humans and machines.”


“That is the intended schedule, but I think we have to put a dose of sobering reality into our analysis,” he said from NASA headquarters in Washington.

The lunar expeditions will benefit the Martian crews, according to Nelson. Whether the 2030s is still feasible for human Mars missions, “all of that is being discussed,” he said.

Nelson commended Elon Musk's SpaceX for its achievements over the past year - flying astronauts to and from the International Space Station for NASA, and just this week successfully launching and landing a full-scale Starship prototype for the first time. Starship is what NASA intends to use to land astronauts on the moon; that $3 billion contract, however, is being protested by the two losing companies.


Might the 78-year-old Nelson - who flew on space shuttle Columbia in 1986 - be interested in a commercial space ride?

“I double-dare them to offer me the opportunity,” he said, laughing. He quickly clarified, “It's time for the young ones.”

But he noted: “I'm still doing my pushups and I'm still doing my pullups and I'm still jogging - so don't tempt me.”


Nelson is NASA's 14th administrator, the third to fly in space. He was sworn in Monday by Vice-President Kamala Harris, who will head the National Space Council. In a show of bipartisan space support, the two previous administrators took part in the ceremony, representing the Obama and Trump administrations.





It was while Nelson was a congressman that he rode on the shuttle - just two weeks before Challenger's astronauts perished during liftoff.

Following the shuttles' retirement in 2011, NASA had to rely on Russia to ferry its astronauts to and from the space station - until the first SpaceX crew flight last year.

“Despite the differences of the political governments, we've always had that space co-operation,” Nelson said. “And it is my fervent hope that that will continue.”