WASHINGTON — 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 US President Donald Trump and his associate Elon Musk promote missions to Mars.

Jim Free, NASA associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD), speaks at a press conference to discuss progress for Artemis II mission around the Moon and back to Earth with a crew of four astronauts,

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,