Following Donald Trump order, Mike Haridopolos bullish about Florida’s role in returning to the moon

President Donald Trump is doubling down on plans to return America to the moon, and U.S. Rep. Mike Haridopolos says investments in the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) will ensure that crew launches from Florida’s Space Coast.

“Space is literally taking off,” Haridopolos said.

The Indian Harbour Beach Republican cheered an executive order issued Thursday by the President on “Ensuring American Space Superiority.” That included a promise to land Americans on the moon by 2028, before the end of Trump’s term in office, which would mark the first manned flight to another celestial body since the last Apollo mission in 1972.

That tracks with the timeline for Artemis II, which intends to send a manned flight around the moon in April, and Artemis III, a 30-day mission where astronauts plan to land on the moon and explore its lunar South Pole.

But the commitment from the White House remains important as a sign of the administration’s commitment to spaceflight, Haridopolos said. The lengthy order coordinates efforts of the Transportation and Commerce Departments and to assert dominance of low-Earth orbit, both for exploration and for military purposes, all with NASA as the central agency.

“This the first President since (Ronald) Reagan to actually mention space in his inaugural,” Haridopolos noted.

Trump indeed promised on Jan. 20 to “pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars.” And while his latest executive order offers no timeline on the red planet, it calls for a lunar outpost on the moon by 2030 that will “enable the next steps in Mars exploration.”

Haridopolos suggests that the order focused on space arrived now thanks to personnel drama around NASA finally coming to a close. The Senate in a 67-30 vote Wednesday confirmed NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, a SpaceX astronaut who commanded the first all-civilian spaceflight.

Trump initially announced Isaacman last year as his choice to head NASA, back when Trump first returned to office and was working closely with SpaceX founder Elon Musk. But in the midst of a high-profile feud with Musk this Summer, Trump withdrew the nomination and made Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy the acting NASA Administrator.

In November, Trump once again put Isaacman forward as his choice to head America’s space agency.

“Isaacman and I have been in constant contact throughout the year,” Haridopolos said. “I was disappointed when at first he was let go, and excited now because our space program isn’t government-owned. It’s a public-private partnership now, especially, as you know, with SpaceX. So I’m very bullish on what they’re doing.”

What needs to happen in space with a full-time leader installed? Haridopolos noted that a lunar lander remains behind schedule for that 2027 launch. He doesn’t want shortcuts in creating one, dismissing ideas like simply using the same designs as for the lander that brought Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon in 1969.

Haridopolos knows NASA should have the resources for a future-looking spacecraft. As far as Florida goes, he’s confident they will make their ascent to the stars from Brevard County, largely thanks to investments in the Trump-championed Big Beautiful Bill. That included $9.9 billion for NASA, dedicating funding for the Artemis, Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft program.

While Haridopolos, like most Florida lawmakers, supports a Sunshine State push to relocate NASA headquarters to Florida, the most high-profile function of the agency is already there.

“We are going to be the place where they launch the rockets,” Haridopolos said. “Just a few years ago, we were wondering, would there be a different place to be launching? But we’re making those investments. Remember we put $250 million — we put a quarter billion dollars — into KSC in the Big Bill, and I think you’re going to see more resources going that way.”