US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he is convinced that NASA has a good chance of sending astronauts to the surface of the moon before he leaves the White House in early 2029, writes AFP.
Asked if he believed the US space agency would achieve that goal during his second term, Trump replied: “Oh, we have a chance to make it.”
“I mean, we don't like to say 'for sure,' because then you can say, 'oh, I failed,'” he added.
But “I think we have a good chance,” the Republican president emphasized as he welcomed into the Oval Office the four Artemis II astronauts who recently returned from a trip around the moon.
The four astronauts — Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen — who completed the mission earlier this month have traveled further in space than anyone before them.
It was also the first manned trip around the Moon in over 50 years.
The United States is aiming for a moon landing in 2028. But experts have expressed skepticism that lunar modules developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin — companies owned by billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, respectively — will be ready in time.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who was at the White House for Wednesday's event, told Trump that “we have an achievable plan to get back to the moon.”
Meanwhile, China is continuing its own program, aiming to send astronauts to the surface of the Moon by 2030.
At the White House on Wednesday, Trump jokingly asked, “Does a president have the right to go on one of these missions?”
“We can get to work on that, Mr. President,” Isaacman replied.
