US President Donald Trump wants to “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars”. But more than 50 years on from the moon landings, America’s space agency, Nasa, is in disarray. Meanwhile, China is forging ahead with its own plans for manned missions to the Moon and perhaps to Mars. Who will win the race to the red planet? 

The FT’s space industry editor Peggy Hollinger speaks to former and current Nasa employees about the challenges facing the space agency, and to Jared Isaacman, Trump’s one-time nominee for Nasa administrator.

This episode of Tech Tonic is hosted by Peggy Hollinger and produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. The senior producer is Edwin Lane and the executive producer is Flo Phillips. Fact checking by Lucy Baldwin. Sound design is by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio.

Clips: CNN, Brut America, John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox 4 News

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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