Musk, in just a handful of years, has caught up to and surpassed NASA in heavy-lift capacity. He has done this on his own dime compared to the bloated budget from the public purse - that's right ZERO cost to the public.
The NASA budget in 2024 was $27,200,000,000 - a 7% increase year over year. NASA cannot possibly beat Musk for a return to the moon, a place they first landed humans on in 1969 - that's 55 years ago.
Musk, however will land humans on Mars in 2028 or 29 with fully reusable Mars transport vehicles he is designing. Cost to the United States =
$ZERO!
NASA will NEVER land a human on Mars because there isn't enough money on planet earth to support the wretched debt-money system to which the U.S. economy has been enslaved for the last 111 years to do so.
Musk is sufficiently influential to propose a simple A/B test which would cost him or the gov'ment NOTHING! Replace just 10% of the nation's money supply which is currently denominated in the Federal Reserve Note, with the oldest and most successful form of United States money, the United States Note, and then accurately measure the surprising reduction in the National Debt.
No legislation would be required because the U.S. Note is still legal tender.
No one else operating within this debt-money system can do it, or has the will to do so.
Nuff said!