NASA just laid out the most ambitious lunar construction plan in human history — landers, rovers, drones, a power grid, and permanent habitats sprawling over hundreds of square miles on the moon's south pole — and they're doing it with American companies, American money, and American guts. Happy Memorial Day, by the way.

Remember when our space program was busy doing Muslim outreach under Obama? Yeah, now we're building a moon base. Funny how that works.

NASA moon base program executive Carlos Garcia-Galan described the plan in terms that would make every patriot's chest swell: "Then we'll be able to say, 'Hey, we're permanently here and we're not giving it up.'" Not visiting. Not planting a flag for a photo op. Permanently. There. The kind of language that makes bureaucrats in Brussels break out in hives.

The agency is awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four U.S. companies to make it happen. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin will provide the landers to deliver lunar terrain vehicles near the south pole. Astrolab and Lunar Outpost are building the moon buggies. And Firefly Aerospace — which already successfully landed on the moon last year — will deliver the first drones, dubbed MoonFall, to mark the perimeter of a base that will cover hundreds of square miles.

Four American companies. Not a European space consortium. Not a Chinese committee. American private enterprise, doing what American private enterprise does best.

The timeline is moving fast. Artemis II already sent four astronauts on a lunar flyaround back in April 2026. Artemis III is targeted for mid-2027, with astronaut boots potentially hitting lunar soil as early as 2028. Phase 2, running from 2029 into the early 2030s, brings the permanent infrastructure — including a power grid on the moon. Phase 3 in the 2030s adds extended habitats where astronauts can actually live and work for prolonged stretches.

A power grid. On the moon. While California can't keep the lights on in Fresno.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman — a guy who actually went to space before he got the job, which is more than you can say for most government appointees — put it plainly: "For those waiting patiently, the grand return is close at hand and we will not slow down. We are really just getting started." That's not the language of a government bureaucrat filling out TPS reports. That's the language of a man who means business.

And here's the part that should make every American proud this Memorial Day. The men and women we honor today — the ones who stormed beaches, held hilltops, flew into enemy fire — they did it so future generations could do impossible things. They didn't sacrifice so we could argue about pronouns and DEI quotas at federal agencies. They sacrificed so we could put a permanent American presence on the moon and use it as a launching pad for Mars.

The previous administration spent four years telling us America's best days were behind us, that we needed to "manage decline" and "lead from behind." Meanwhile, this administration is building a base on the moon with drones named MoonFall marking the corners.

The Artemis program isn't just a space program. It's a statement. We're not renting space on the International Space Station and hitching rides on Russian rockets anymore. We're building, we're staying, and as Garcia-Galan said — we're not giving it up.

Newsmax reports that the plan also lays the groundwork for a lunar economy and eventual Mars exploration. Because apparently conquering one celestial body at a time isn't ambitious enough for this crowd.

God bless the troops we honor today. And God bless the country that honors them by refusing to stop reaching higher.