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US President Donald Trump on Friday hailed efforts by the US space program to send astronauts back to the moon by 2024, calling them "huge," while stressing that the ultimate goal is Mars.
"We are going on Mars," Trump told the press after a meeting at the White House with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, pointing out that Mars was a more exciting target than the moon.
"We stop at the moon, the moon is actually a launching pad," Trump said. "That's why we stopped at the moon." I said, "Hey, we made the moon. This is not so exciting. "So we're going to make the moon, but we're really going to make Mars."
Vice President Mike Pence unveiled in March NASA's deadline for astronauts to return to the moon in 2024. The Earth's natural satellite was also a primary goal of the Spatial Policy Directive 1, a signed directive by Trump in December 2017, ordering NASA to send astronauts to the moon and aim for Mars. NASA's Artemis program is developing the huge megarocket and Orion spaceship of the Space Launch System, which will allow astronauts to fly the lunar neighborhood. The agency also plans to create a lunar station called Lunar Gateway, which would serve as a base for exploring the lunar surface.
Earlier in June, Trump had criticized NASA's focus on the moon only weeks before the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
"Despite all the money we spend, NASA should NOT talk about going to the moon – we did it 50 years ago," he wrote on Twitter. pointing out that the goal should be March. NASA leader Jim Bridenstine has since pointed out that the moon is a key milestone for future crewed Mars missions.
However, on Friday, Trump said NASA was making "huge progress" towards Mars, and also noted the work of commercial companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin.
"In addition, rich people like to send rockets in. So, between Bezos and Elon Musk and others, we rent them our launch facilities, which you can not get," said Trump. "And they did very well, they said they were very successful." At the joint conference with Australian Prime Minister Morrison, he also added that "in the United States," the rich […] like building rockets and sending them, and we agree. "
NASA is not the only one to reach the Moon and Mars. The European Space Agency is building the service module for Orion and NASA has also received the commitment from Canada and Japan to cooperate in the field of lunar exploration this year. On Saturday, NASA added the Australian Space Agency, created in 2018, to its group of lunar partners who have signed a cooperation agreement on future lunar projects. Australian Space Agency Director Megan Clark and NASA Assistant Administrator Jim Morhard have signed a joint statement of intent for space cooperation.
"We are honored by the statement of today and the commitment of our Australian friends to support us in our mission to return to the moon by 2024 with the Artemis program", Morhard said in a statement from NASA. "The close relationship between NASA and the Australian Space Agency confirms NASA's commitment to establishing sustainable exploration with its commercial and international partners by 2028."
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