Jim Bridenstine became NASA administrator in April 2018. He says that before the space agency can send humans to Mars, it has to get them back to the moon.
Olivia Falcigno/NPR

In the past year or so, scientists have discovered more evidence for liquid water under the surface of Mars. They’ve found complex organic compounds — the building blocks of life. And they’ve found that methane levels in Mars’ atmosphere vary with the seasons.

“Each of these things adds up to say that the probability of finding life on a world that’s not our own is going up,” says NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “And Mars, I think, is that best opportunity in our own solar system to find life on another world.”

The former Republican congressman from Oklahoma became the head of NASA in April 2018. Since then, he has had a lot to do to get ready for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, but he’s making sure the agency continues to look forward for its next mission: a crewed mission to Mars.

But before humans can go to Mars, they have to get back to the moon.

“It just so happens that the moon is a proving ground, so we can go to the moon and we can learn how to live and work on another world,” says Bridenstine. “How do we retire the risk? Prove the technology and then take all of that to Mars.”