Mike Pence announces plans for a permanent US presence on the moon

Last December, 45 years almost to the minute since Jack Schmidt and Gene Cern landed on the moon. President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive One. It is now the official policy of the United States of America that we will return To the moon, put Americans on Mars, and once again explore the farthest depths of outer space. [APPLAUSE] Our administration has laid out a new vision for space. President Trump's vision to push our nation farther. get there faster than ever before is being implemented even as we speak. And unlike prior administrations, we have a vision with the budget to match. As I mentioned, thanks to congressman Carson's leadership and strong bipartisan support in the Congress. President Trump already signed in the law of historic funding for NASA. And we've also fully funded NASA's most important endeavours from deep space human exploration, America's rocket, the space launch system and the Orion space capsule. These projects as you all well know are emblematic to American leadership in the cosmos. The space launch system will be the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. It will generate a staggering 11.9 million pounds of thrust and reach speeds of nearly seven miles per second. And all this force, all this energy, will lift American astronauts into space aboard the Orion capsule. [APPLAUSE] The next Americans who set foot on the moon will start their journey by stepping through Orion's hatch. The extraordinary spacecraft will one day bridge the gap between our planet and the next. The Orion will be a critical part of the vessel that carries American astronauts to Mars. [APPLAUSE] And you here at the Johnson Space Center will guide these journyes. While our sights are once again set on our lunar neighbor, this time we're not content with just leaving behind footprints. Or even to leave at all. This time, the time as come, we really believe for the United States of America. To take what we have learned over these so many decades, put your ingenuity and creativity to work, and establish a permanent Presence around and on the moon. Our administration has restored the moon as the focal point of our National Space Station activities, because we recognize it's pivotal importance. That's why under President's Trump's leadership our administration is swiftly advancing the most important precursor to outposts on the moon. And the mission to Mars. The first space station that will orbit our nearest neighbor, the lunar orbital platform. Last year NASA began to work with American innovators to design this gateways unique electrical propulsion system. We're working with the Congress to provide an unprecedented $500 million To move the lunar orbital platform from proposal to production. We're only a few short years away from launching the gateway's first building blocks into space, turning science fiction into science fact. And our administration is working tirelessly to put an American crew aboard the lunar orbital platform before the end of 2024. Men and women of the Johnson Space Center It's not a question of if, it's just a question of when. [APPLAUSE] [BLANK_AUDIO] The end of the space shuttle program in 2011 left America without a viable human space launch program. While I was a member of Congress, I actually had the opportunity to attend Three different shuttle launches. Some of the most inspiring experience of my little family's lives. SAdly, for more than seven years we've been forced to hitch a ride to space. Many Americans don't know that we've actually been forced to pay Russia to carry American astronauts to the international space station. And, today That cost runs about $82 million per seat. Those days are about to be over. [SOUND] [APPLAUSE] I'm gonna make you a promise. Soon and very soon, American astronaunts will return to space on American rockets launched from American soil. [APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE]