WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump wants to send man back to the moon \u2014 and on to Mars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump signed a policy directive Monday instructing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to \u201crefocus America\u2019s space program on human exploration and discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The move, Trump said, \u201cmarks an important step in returning American astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972 for long-time exploration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis time we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint,\u201d he said, \u201cwe will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars, and perhaps someday, to many worlds beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Past presidents, including George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, have also proposed returning to the moon and missions to Mars, Budget constraints derailed their plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump was joined at the White House by several current and former astronauts, including Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, and former U.S. Sen. and Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison \u201cJack\u201d Schmitt, the next-to-last person on the moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday we pledge that he will not be the last, and I suspect we\u2019ll be finding other places to land in addition to the moon,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No human has been on the moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972. Only 12 men have set foot on the moon, all have been Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the directive, the government is also expected to work closely with other nations and private industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump signed a policy directive Monday instructing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to \u201crefocus America\u2019s space program on human exploration and discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":45728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":14,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[106,31,110,14,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1304],"class_list":["post-14504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-it-cloud-report","category-it-networks","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"XYMN5YMGSNE6LAJZOGBLMDVVSU","arc_canonical_url":"\/it-networks\/2017\/12\/12\/trump-wants-to-send-man-back-to-moon-on-to-mars\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n