Vice President Pence stated the Trump administrations commitment to continuing manned space exploration in a speech at the National Space Council (NSC) on October 5th.

The highlight of the speech was when Pence stated, “We will return American astronauts to the moon.” He proposed that a return to the moon will be a stepping stone towards sending humans to the planet Mars.

“The moon will be a stepping stone, a training ground, a venue to strengthen our commercial and international partnerships as we refocus America’s space program toward human space exploration,” Pence added.

“Rather than lead in space, too often, we’ve chosen to drift,” he said. “And, as we learned 60 years ago, when we drift, we fall behind.” – Space.com

Watch the entire event and Pence speech below

Featured image by NASA Bill Ingalls

vice president pence nasa back to the moon