Mr. President, do you plan on sending Americans to space?
An artist's rendition of what the surface might look like on TRAPPIST-1f, a planet that NASA discovered in the TRAPPIST-1 solar system in February 2017.
Over President Donald Trump's first 100 days, we're asking him questions that our audience wants answers to. Join the project by tweeting this question to @realDonaldTrump with the hashtag #100Days100Qs.
#44. @realDonaldTrump do you plan on sending Americans to space? #100Days100Qs
Will you reinvest in space exploration, Mr. President?
President Trump has had a lot to say about where and how America should spend its money.
In fact, the “national rebuilding” of the United States was a major theme in the first address he delivered to a joint session of Congress last week.
The US and the world according to Trump: We’ve sent jobs overseas and let the middle class squander. We’ve defended the borders of other countries at the cost of our own. We’ve built “one global project after another” while we’ve left American cities behind.
And the $6 trillion spent on war in the Middle East? “We could have rebuilt our country twice” with that amount, Trump said.
The president sounded a consistent message that the federal government ought to invest more money in America and spend less money abroad.
But what about outer space?
A single line in Trump’s address has would-be astronauts hopeful that the commander-in-chief might reinvest in sending Americans to galaxies far, far away:
“American footprints on distant worlds are not too big a dream.”
He left it at that. But apparently, Trump was planning on offering more details about NASA’s funding future before a longer section on space travel was cut to keep the speech under an hour.
Jeff Foust reported for SpaceNews, meanwhile, that Trump’s address wasn’t the first time he gave a nod to space exploration. During his inaugural address, Trump said “We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space.”
Trump may be talking up American space exploration, but investing in NASA would seem like a departure from his budget plans, which include cuts to federal agencies like NASA to the tune of over $50 billion. Not to mention the fact that launching shuttles into space isn't quite the same thing as Trump's more down-to-Earth plans to reinvest in American infrastructure at home.
So, Mr. President, what will it be: Is sending Americans into space part of your plan to “make America great again?” Click here to tweet this question to the president.
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