NASA has plans to return humans to the moon with the Artemis mission—but Elon Musk’s preference for Mars could have influence in the Trump administration.

Elon Musk has taken aim at NASA for focusing on exploring the Moon rather than launching missions to Mars. The Red Planet has long been a primary goal for the SpaceX CEO, who hopes to establish a human colony there within his lifetime.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is calling for NASA to ditch its Moon program, arguing that the "Moon is a distraction" and that "we're going straight to Mars" instead in a recent tweet. In a separate tweet on Christmas Day,

Without naming Mr. Musk directly, Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced the billionaire’s spreading of falsehoods about a child sex abuse scandal.

Sir Keir Starmer has accused tech billionaire Elon Musk and right-wing populists of spreading lies about child abuse grooming gangs and warned “they have crossed a line”. The prime minister came out fighting after a Christmas break during which Mr Musk and others unleashed a torrent of personal abuse against him and his government,

Germany has said that Musk's attempts to influence the coming German election are futile as the Tesla CEO voices support for the far right. The UK's Starmer and France's Macron echoed the German government's sentiments.