US President Donald Trump directed NASA on Monday to send Americans to the Moon for the first time in decades, a move he said would help prepare for a future Mars trip.
“This time we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint,” Trump said at the White House as he signed the new space policy directive.
“We will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars and perhaps someday to many worlds beyond.”
LISTEN: What can we achieve by going back to the moon? With Dr. Gordon Osinski, Associate Professor & Natural Sciences and Research Council of Canada Chair in Planetary Geology at Western University.
READ MORE: Elon Musk says rocket could travel anywhere on Earth in an hour, take humans to Mars
The last time US astronauts visited the Moon was during the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s.
On July 20, 1969, US astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon.
- 2021 heat dome fuelled by climate change, intensified wildfire risk: study
- B.C. introduces legislation recognizing Haida Gwaii Indigenous title
- Whale experts confident B.C. orca calf will survive, find family if rescue plan succeeds
- Plastic production cap still contentious as Ottawa set to host treaty talks
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the newly revitalized National Space Council, have previously vowed to explore the Moon again, but offered few details.
VIDEO: White House comments on executive order committing NASA to planetary landing
Flanked by Pence and two female astronauts, Trump said the directive “will refocus the space program on human exploration and discovery,” and “marks an important step in returning American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972.”
The goal of the new Moon missions would include “long-term exploration and use” of its surface.
A White House statement said the US “will work with other nations and private industry to return astronauts to the Moon, developing the technology and means for manned exploration of Mars and other destinations in our solar system.”
READ MORE: NASA tells astronauts aboard ISS to ‘Get ‘er Done’ after the iconic Canadarm breaks down
Sending people to the Red Planet has been a goal of the United States for years.
The first manned Mars mission is planned for sometime in the 2030s.
LISTEN: Astronomy professor Paul Delaney joins Tasha Kheiriddin
Comments