NASA is losing four key senior officials close to its flagship moon program, according to people familiar with the changes, adding more uncertainty over the agency's space exploration trajectory as Elon Musk and President Donald Trump play up missions to Mars.

Four NASA senior officials working on the agency’s moon program, Artemis, will retire this week. These officials were part of the team that succeeded in launching Artemis I as “the first flight test of the integrated Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket,

The US space agency is losing four senior officials, insiders say, including a key defender of the Artemis missions Nasa is losing four key senior officials close to its flagship moon programme, according to people familiar with the changes,

"trans lunar injection." Then on Thursday, the lander, named Blue Ghost, fired its engines for four minutes to propel the spacecraft beyond Earth’s orbit toward the moon. The engine burn was the most challenging the lander had conducted with its main engine and thrusters since launching Jan.

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost fired its engines early in the morning of February 18, marking the latest stage in its 45-day long trip to the Moon. The engine burn, which started at 3:09 a.m. ET and lasted three minutes and 18 seconds,