Donald Trump declared that the United States is beating the rest of the world in the space race and will be 'going to Mars very soon.' The US President made the remarks during his Fourth of July speech in Washington DC, where he brought out the crew of Artemis II — the first astronauts to perform a flyby of the Moon in 54 years.
Artemis II Crew Honored
Trump introduced astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen, telling them he assumed they would be heading to Mars. 'We're going to be going to Mars very soon and I think that's something that we do have in mind. And we're going to do the Moon and we're going to go from there,' he said. 'We're going to go to Mars and we're going to continue to be way ahead.'
The quartet completed their mission on April 10, becoming the first humans to reach the Moon since the Apollo era after a successful 10-day lunar flyby aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft. They were joined on stage by Harrison Schmitt, the last living person to have walked on the Moon as part of the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Schmitt is one of just 12 people to have set foot on the Moon; only four are still alive.
Trump's Vision for Space
Trump claimed the US was leading rivals China and Russia by 'giant steps' in space exploration. 'Some people smiled — they thought it was foolish. And now they're finding it's one of the most important things that we've done. We were losing to China and to Russia in space and now we're leading them by giant steps. And it's a great thing,' he said.
NASA's Artemis missions aim to return astronauts to the Moon and build a base there to pave the way for future human missions to Mars. Trump, who set out to put mankind back on the Moon during his first term, watched the Artemis II crew's splashdown from his US winery. Artemis III — planned for next year — will test the Orion spacecraft's ability to dock with SpaceX and Blue Origin lunar landing vehicles in orbit. That is a critical step before astronauts attempt another Moon landing in Artemis IV in 2028.
SpaceX's Lunar Ambitions
SpaceX chief Elon Musk has said he wants to build a 'self-growing city' on the Moon within the next 10 years to save mankind. He wrote on his social media platform X that he wants to populate Mars too but reckons that could take '20+ years.' 'The overriding priority is securing the future of civilisation and the Moon is faster,' he said. 'SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon, as we can potentially achieve that in less than 10 years, whereas Mars would take 20+ years. It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six-month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (two-day trip time). This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city. The mission of SpaceX remains the same: extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars.'
