NASA could return to the moon for the first time since 1972, and “restore America’s space supremacy” thanks to President Donald Trump, according to science author Roger Highfield.
Highfield, in an article for The Washington Examiner, writes that Trump “signed the first of three space policy directives that marked an important step” in bringing American astronauts back to the moon. He notes that “Once again, a U.S. president wants to restore America's space supremacy, this time by returning humans to the moon followed by missions to Mars and beyond.”
Doug Millard, the space curator at the Science Museum in London, said that “There are echoes here of dented national pride following the Soviet Union’s pioneering launches of the Sputnik artificial satellite in 1957 and then the first man in space — Yuri Gagarin — in 1961.”
Highfield notes that Trump also signed a directive “to reform and streamline the United States commercial space regulatory framework,” and that NASA is currently working on a “super rocket” that “would be the most powerful ever designed.”
However, former Apollo command module pilot Al Worden told Highfield that he’s not sure going back to the moon is the right use of NASA’s resources.
"I think it is time for our president to challenge the agency to do something great again and provide the funds to accomplish it," he said. "However, I am not sure going back to the moon is the answer. We have been there, so just going back is not such a big deal. Unless, of course, the idea is to live for extended periods there to understand the challenges we will have on Mars."
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