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December 12th, 2017
U.S. President Donald Trump, speaks before signing the Space Policy Directive – 1, directing NASA to return to the Moon, in the Roosevelt room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Dec. 11, 2017.
Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
U.S. President Donald Trump has put pen to paper in signing the Space Policy Directive – 1 – placing NASA on the pathway for a return to the Moon.
The event took place in the Roosevelt room of the White House in Washington, Monday, December 11, 2017.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds up the Space Policy Directive – 1 after signing it, directing NASA to return to the Moon, alongside members of the Senate, Congress, NASA, and commercial space companies in the Roosevelt room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Dec. 11, 2017.
Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
Wanted: funds, political will
“This could turn out to be a historic step towards sending Americans once again, after 45 years and counting, away from their home planet,” explains John Logsdon, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and International Affairs for the Space Policy Institute, Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.
Apollo 17’s Jack Schmitt presents U.S. President Trump a moonwalker figurine. Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin views the scene as does Peggy Whitson, the only female astronaut reaching a total of 665 days over the course of three long-duration missions.
Credit: Screenshot/Inside Outer Space
“The words are all good words, and incorporating them into the formally-stated National Space Policy is significant,” Logsdon tells Inside Outer Space. “But a policy is only as good as its implementation. I hope the White House follows through with the funds and political will to make this happen, and that the Congress can agree to what should be a non-partisan return to space exploration.”
Wait and see
Remarks James Vedda of the Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy & Strategy in Arlington, Virginia: “Trump and his spokespeople have been talking about this in very general terms for a year, so the only real news here is that they finally put it in writing in an official document – again, in very general terms.”
As others have noted, Vedda adds let’s wait and see what’s in the Fiscal Year ‘19 budget request to support this activity.
“The fact that the administration did this with a simple amendment to the previous administration’s National Space Policy may indicate that there are no plans to completely replace that policy, at least not in the near term,” Vedda advises Inside Outer Space.
Ivanka Trump, advisor to President Donald Trump, touches a sample from the Moon that former astronaut Jack Schmitt, left, collected during the Apollo 17 mission, just after President Trump signed Space Policy Directive – 1, directing NASA to return to the moon, in the Roosevelt room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Dec. 11, 2017. Under glass, lunar sample 70215 with Schmitt noting to Ivanka Trump the size of the boulder it came from.
Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
Memorandum, remarks
For related documents go to:
Presidential Memorandum on Reinvigorating America’s Human Space Exploration Program
Remarks By President Trump and Vice President Pence at Signing Ceremony for Space Policy Directive – 1
President Donald J. Trump Will Make America a Leader in Space Exploration Again
Video of signing ceremony can be viewed at:
President Trump Participates in a Signing Ceremony for Space Policy Directive – 1
Posted in Space News
