NASA fast-tracks nuclear-powered spaceship, aims for interplanetary travel in 2028

The U.S. is developing a nuclear-powered spaceship designed by technology critical to deep-space exploration and national security, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told The Washington Times in an exclusive interview this week.

Speaking to The Times at the Space Symposium 2026 conference, Mr. Isaacman presented nuclear power and propulsion not as options but as necessities for America to dominate the 21st-century space race. Those technologies are critical to establishing a permanent base on the moon and to possible human travel to Mars, he said.

The current focus is the Space Reactor-1 Freedom program, a nuclear electric propulsion spacecraft that Mr. Isaacman described as "interplanetary." A fission reactor powering electric thrusters would enable travel well beyond the moon and help future astronauts begin a history-making journey to Mars.