Speculation is mounting that the Trump administration may scale back or cancel NASA's Artemis missions following the departure of a key official and Boeing's plans to lay off hundreds of employees working on its lunar rocket.

As expected, the billionaire astronaut—and likely future administrator of NASA—is focused on Mars and the private sector.

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,