President Trump peeled back the curtain on his plans for the US space program on Tuesday — singing a sweeping NASA policy bill into effect and reaffirming the agency’s commitment to human exploration and putting a man on Mars.
“For almost six decades NASA’s work has inspired millions and millions of Americans to imagine distant worlds and a better future right here on Earth,” Trump explained during the signing, which was attended by astronauts, lawmakers and scientists.
“With this legislation, we support NASA’s scientists, engineers, astronauts and their pursuit of discovery,” he said. “It’s been a long time since a bill like this has been signed reaffirming our national commitment to the core mission of NASA, human space exploration, space science and technology.”
The bill, dubbed the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017, was co-authored by Trump’s campaign trail rivals Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio, both of whom were in attendance for the signing. The event marked the first time President Trump spoke about the space program in public since the election.
The new NASA legislation mainly keeps the agency on the same trajectory it’s been since its last authorization act in 2010, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The bill extends a number of important space programs, including the Hubble Telescope and the International Space Station through 2024 — and calls for a crewed mission to Mars by 2033. It also states that manned missions to deep space would be NASA’s main goal in the decades to come.
“It is the first time in seven years we’ve had a NASA authorization bill,” Cruz said, joking with Trump that they now had the ability to “send Congress to space.”
“We could,” Trump replied. “What a great idea that could be.”
Beginning in October, the legislation calls for $19.5 billion to be distributed throughout NASA for the space agency’s 2018 fiscal year. Trump said the money will be used to fund missions with companies in the private sector, such as SpaceX.
“This bill will make sure that NASA’s most important and effective programs are sustained and orders NASA to continue,” Trump said.
“Transitioning activities to the commercial sector where we have seen great progress. It’s amazing what’s going on,” he added. “So many people and so many companies are so into exactly what NASA stands for. So the commercial and the private sector will get to use these facilities, and I hope they’re going to be paying us a lot of money, because they’re going to make great progress.”
In addition, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday that Trump plans to relaunch the National Space Council — which has been sitting on the shelf since George H.W. Bush left office.
“We’re going to be bringing together the best and the brightest in NASA and also in the private sector,” Pence said.
Trump’s decision to focus on space travel is a far cry from what Barack Obama did with NASA during his time in office. In addition to funneling billions of dollars into earth science and global warming research, the former commander-in-chief once publicly blasted the idea of putting another man on the moon — famously saying, “We’ve been there before.”