Elon Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency is working to reduce government spending by eliminating waste and cutting diversity programs, while his SpaceX corporation has a multibillion-dollar contract to assist NASA in landing the first woman and person of color on the moon.
NASA announced in 2021 that it had awarded SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to build a spacecraft for long-term human lunar exploration as part of its Artemis program.
“NASA is getting ready to send astronauts to explore more of the Moon as part of the Artemis program,” NASA stated in a 2021 press release. “At least one of those astronauts will become the first woman to walk on the moon. Another goal of the Artemis program is to land the first person of color on the lunar surface.
NASA announced in 2023 that the crew for the Artemis moon exploration mission would be Navy Capt. Victor Glover, a Black Engineer of the Year Award recipient, and North Carolina native Christina Koch, who holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, as well as former Astronaut Office Chief Reid Wiseman and Canadian astronaut and fighter pilot Jeremy Hansen.
“To me, it is important that a woman and a Black astronaut be on the crew, because that is what our office looks like,” Glover told ABC News’ Linsey Davis in February 2024.
As head of DOGE, Musk is slashing federal agencies and programs as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the government.
He claims to have cut a billion dollars in federal DEI programs, and sources say DOGE has directed agencies to remove anything DEI-related from bulletin boards, including posters and signs, and has checked bathroom signs to ensure they comply with Trump’s executive orders to phase out DEI initiatives from the federal government.
NASA and SpaceX representatives did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Since the partnership with SpaceX was announced in 2021, NASA has announced additional contracts for Musk’s space company as part of the lunar landing mission. According to federal spending data, SpaceX has received $2.8 billion in obligations to date, with the total award potentially reaching $4.4 billion.
Over the last decade, SpaceX has received more than $18 billion in federal contracts, $13 billion of which came from NASA, according to federal spending data.
“SpaceX will not let NASA down!” Musk tweeted in 2022 in response to then-NASA administrator Bill Nelson’s announcement of a $1.15 billion contract extension for the company.
Last month, NASA announced that it would comply with Trump’s executive order to end DEI programs by amending certain program elements, such as ending the “Inclusion Plan Pilot Study,” removing requirements for “Inclusion Plans,” and removing “references to NASA’s DEIA programs.” It’s unclear whether NASA’s compliance with Trump’s DEI order applies to all of its contractors.
The Artemis program was launched in 2017 following a directive from Trump during his first administration, with the goal of returning humans to the moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, as well as a long-term goal of expanding to Mars.
