Vice President Mike Pence visited NASA’s Johnson Space Center on Thursday and spoke about human spaceflight and the future of U.S. space exploration. The vice president reiterated intentions to provide support for manned missions to the moon and eventually to Mars. The administration’s space exploration goals were initially laid out in Space Policy Directive 1, which President Trump signed last December.
Pence said he believes that it is time for the United States to “establish a permanent presence on and around the moon.” To reach that goal, he discussed the necessity of NASA projects including the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, Space Launch System, and Orion spacecraft. The vice president also spoke about the administration’s plans to develop a space-oriented branch of the armed forces, saying that the U.S. Space Force will be a reality by 2020. The complete speech can be seen in the video below.
In addition to giving his speech, Pence toured the laboratory housing the moon rocks collected during the Apollo program’s lunar missions and the Sonny Carter Training Facility Neutral Buoyancy Lab where astronauts practice spacewalking techniques.
